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MATTER, LIFE, MIND: 



ESSENCE, PHENOMENA, AND RELATIONS, 



EXAMINED WITH 



REFERENCE TO THE NATURE OF MAN, 



THE PROBLEM OF HIS DESTINY. 



BY H. H. MOORE, D.D. 



2. c> ^U- * 



NEW YORK: 
PHILLIPS & HUNT. 

CINCINNATI: 
CRANSTON & ST OW E. 

1886. 



&p 



Copyright, 1886, by 

PHILLIPS & HUNT, 

New York. 



Jl- 3^3 



■J 



DEDICATED 

TO 

THE REV. DANIEL CURRY, D.D., LL.D. 

AS I MEDITATED, TRUTHS AROSE IN MY MIND WHICH I THOUGHT 
SHOULD BE SPOKEN; 

I WAITED FIVE YEARS IN VAIN FOR SOME ONE TO UTTER THEM ; 

AND NOW I RESPECTFULLY ADDRESS THEM TO YOU AS AN EXPRESSION 

OF MY HIGH RKGARD FOR YOUR CHARACTER 

AND ABILITY. 

THE AUTHOR. 



PRE FACE 



THIS treatise is given to the public with the hope 
that it may serve, to some extent, as a check to 
the advancing tide of Materialism, and define, with 
some precision, the ground Vitalists should occupy in 
this great debate. Believing that the things and 
facts of nature are their own best interpreters, we 
have labored to shun the metaphysical aspects of the 
subject, and allow them to speak for themselves and 
for truth. 

If the " new philosophy " is a true solution of the 
problems presented by the universe, then in matter 
itself, and in matter alone, should be found an ex- 
planation of the cause and origin of all phenomena, 
especially of such as are vital and intellectual in their 
character. Having doubts on this subject, we have 
made a special examination of all the kinds of matter 
which enter organic bodies and tested their proper- 
ties, for the purpose of detecting in them the presence 
of a vital force or any capacity to work themselves 
into living organisms ; and the conclusion reached is, 
that matter is not, never was, and never can be, till 
the constitution of nature is changed, the cause of 
vital phenomena. It follows that, as vitality does not 
originate in matter, its marvelous forces must have 
either an independent existence, which logically is 
inconceivable, or an antithetic cause in a vital sub- 



6 Preface. 

stance. Having thus placed matter and vitality in 
the field side by side, on the same plane of observa- 
tion, we have compared and contrasted the forces of 
the one with the phenomena of the other, and drawn 
the line which separates the two kingdoms.* 

Materialists have been quick to see that the uni- 
form connection which subsists between matter and 
all manifestations of vitality was their stronghold, and 
they have made the most of it; but here we ha ye met 
them, and, as we believe, found it possible to identify 
clearly life and mind as entities, distinct from each 
other, and from their associated organisms. On the 
principle that substance contains within itself the best 
proofs of its existence, we have compelled the mind 
to speak out, and proclaim, in its own appropriate 
way, its individuality and transcendent powers. If 
such proof shall fail to convince the doubter, we have 
nothing further to offer. 

Materialists dwell largely and minutely upon the 
supposed influence which the body, and especially the 
brain, have upon the mind, much of which is true, 
and a still greater portion a mere fancy ; but we have 
not neglected this point, but have shown, at consider- 
able length, that mind, as one substance, has a still 
greater influence over the body as another substance. 
We now submit to the candor of the reader what has 
been to us, though severe, a labor of love. 

Chautauqua, N. Y., Jan. 12, 1885. 

* The locality of a very few things in reference to this line it may 
be difficult to determine; but we leave them with the satisfaction of 
thinking that they belong somewhere, aiW that their exact place will 
yet be found. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MATTER OR STUFF WROUGHT INTO ORGANIC BODIES. 

SEC. PAGE 

1. The constitution of Matter 25 

2. Our ignorance of the origin and essence of Matter 28 

3. The kinds of Matter which compose Organic Bodies 33 

4. The sway of Oxygen over other kinds of Matter 42 

5. A Non-vital Globe, or the reign of mere Matter 45 

6. The Sway of Life on Earth 46 

7. The Achievements of Matter 48 

8. The Forces and Scope of Matter Limited 52 

9. Misgivings of Materialists 56 

10. Materialism builds only upon Matter 58 

11. Matter yields no signs of Vitality 59 

1 2. Confession of Materialists 60 

CHAPTER II. 

THE VARIETY OF VITAL ELEMENTS AS THE BASIS OF 

ORGANISMS. 

1. Life Defined 63 

2. Life a Reality, and not a Force 65 

3. Facts Materialism fails to Explain 70 

4. Different Grades of Life 73 

5. The Permanency of Vital Elements 77 

6. Mr. Darwin's Theism 84 

7. The profound Secret of Life 87 

8. A Created Vital World 89 

CHAPTER III. 

VITAL PHENOMENA CONTRASTED WITH FORCES OF MATTER. 

1. Matter and its Forces Unchangeable 92 

2. Organic and Inorganic Matter the same 95 

3. Matter cannot Exert Vital Force 98 

4. Matter the Product of Infinite Wisdom 99 

5. The Life of an Organism 100 

6. The Mystery of Existence ' . 103 

7. Vital Phenomena Contrasted with the Forces of Matter. ... 108 



8 Contents. 

SEO. PAGE 

8. The End for which Matter was Created HI 

9. Mind not the Life of the Body 114. 

10. The Law of Generation Limited to the Vital World 116 

11. The Conservative Power of Life 119 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE MIND, AS THE MAN, IDENTIFIED IN THE ORGANISM. 

1. The Significance of Persistent Terms 126 

2. Mind fully in the field of Observation 128 

3. The Reality of Substance 131 

4. The Correlates of our Sense-organs 132 

5. The Authority of Consciousness 135 

6. Vicious Method of Study 140 

7. The Fallacy of the Materialistic Argument 147 

8. Further False Reasoning 151 

9. To Know Man, the Mind itself must be Studied 154 

10. The Sufficiency of our Argument 158 

CHAPTER V. 

MIND SELF-REVEALED IN ITS FACULTIES AND POWERS. 

1. Mind a self-centered Substance, and the Cause of Mental 

Phenomena 161 

2. Mind an Intelligence 167 

3. Sensation a Means of Knowledge 170 

4. Province of Reason 172 

5. Relation of Sense and Reason 176 

6. Triumphs of Intellect 178 

7. Unconscious Mental Action 181 

8. The Will 188 

9. Emotion as a Part of the Mind 191 

CHAPTER VI. 

INTERACTION OF MIND AND BODY. 

1. Mind and Body Two Substances 197 

2. Unity and Harmony 198 

3. Different Tendencies of Mind and Body 201 

4. Demonstrative Facts 203 

5. Miscellaneous Illustrations 207 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE ATTEMPTS MADE TO FRAME A DEFINITION OF LIFE. 

1. The Boldness of modern Philosophic Thought 223 

2. The Stronghold of Materialism 226 

3. Materialists not Content with their Argument 229 



Contents. 9 

8EO. PAGE 

4. Vital Writers have Failed to Help their Cause 232 

5. Materialistic Attempts to frame a Definition of Life 235 

6. Attempts of Vitalists to Define Life 245 

7. Life Precedes Structure 250 

8. Cavild of George H. Lewes 253 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONCEPTION OF MAN AS A PHYSICAL UNIT. 

1. Relation of Mind and Body 255 

2. The Existence of Mind really Denied 256 

3. Absurd Reasoning 258 

4. Matter and Mental Force 259 

5. Prof. Bain's Argument 260 

6. The Fallacy of Bain's Argument Exposed 264 

7. Miscellaneous Considerations 273 

CHAPTER IX. 

MATERIALISTIC PROCESS OF ELIMINATING MIND FROM BODY. 

1. The Wrestling of Materialists with their Problem 280 

2. The Strategy of the Argument 282 

3. The Issue Joined 283 

4. Consciousness the Ground of Judgment 285 

5. The Disposition made of the Will 287 

6. The Intellect as viewed by Materialists 291 

7. How Brain Substance is Transformed into Ideas 301 

8. The Argument Confessedly Insufficient 305 

CHAPTER X. 

HYPOTHESIS OF THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE AND MIND. 

1. Huxley's error in regard to the Matter of Protoplasm 310 

2. Mr. Lewes comes to the support of Mr. Huxley 316 

3. Mr. Lewes's Argument Dissected 320 

4. A new Pllement in the Materialist argument 322 

5. Mr. Lewes's Objection that no one has ever seen a Spirit. . . 326 

6. The Universe Primarily Vital 329 

7. Relation of Body and Mind 332 

CHAPTER XL 

THE SHORTCOMINGS AND ABSURDITIES OF MATERIALISM. 

1. The Subjective and Objective in Thought 337 

2. The Process of Making a Unit of Body and Mind 344 

3. Materialists confessedly use a False Terminology 347 



10 Contents. 

BEO. PAGE 

4. Materialism finds an Antagonist in the Inflexibility of Lan- 

guage 351 

5. Prof. Tyndall Wrestling with the Constitution of Matter 354 

6. Herbert Spencer's Terminology 355 

7. Inorganic Matter pressed into service as Organic 356 

8. Materialism Draws Conclusions from Unresolved Factors. . . 359 

9. It is pure Fiction that, Vitality and Thought are Cerebral 

Phenomena 361 



CHAPTER XII. 

MONISTIC PHILOSOPHY. 

1. Idealistic Monism 364 

2. Idealists Permitted to Explain their Doctrine 365 

3. Idealism Actualized , 371 

4. The Basis of Idealism 373 

5. Idealism Abolishes all forms of Vitality 375 

6. Idealistic Arguments , 376 

7. Idealism is a fancy Structure, having no Internal Reality for 

its Support 378 

8. Idealism Dependent upon Realism for Existence 379 

9. What is Implied in the Consciousness of Existence 380 

10. Summary of the Argument. 384 

11. The Idea of Substance 386 

12. The Verdict . 387 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE POWER OP CONSCIENCE. 

1. Method of Argumentation 388 

2. Conscience as a Psychological Element 390 

3. Functions of Conscience 393 

4. Practical Illustrations of the Strength and Nature of Con- 

science 396 

5. Laws of Conscience 409 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SENSATION, REASON, FAITH. 

1. Sensation Analyzed 414 

2. The Sense-organs Defined 416 

3. Relation of the Senses to the Mind 421 

4. The Sphere of the Action of Reason 424 

5. The Moral Element in Man must be provided for 425 

6. The Narrowness of Materialism 429 

7. Faith and Spiritual Life 431 

Conclusion 435 



INTRODUCTORY. 



AS preliminary steps to the study of any philo- 
sophical question, we assume that man is an 
intelligence; that he has a knowing capacity specially 
correlated to truth ; that the scope and limits of 
mental action can be correctly determined ; that in 
the aggregate of truth a part may be known and 
logically used, though much remains unknown ; and, 
in short, that a knowledge of one's capacity and 
an ability correctly to use it in the acquisition of 
knowledge, and to distinguish between the know- 
able and unknowable, cover the entire field of 
philosophy. 

In accordance with these principles, Descartes, in 
consultation with his own consciousness, and feel- 
ing assured that he uttered what was true, said, " Co- 
gito " — I think — that is to say, I am. The " I am " 
he regarded as substance, a self-centered something, 
known to itself by its own self-consciousness. Here 
was being, an agent, an actor, and thought was one 
of its modes of activity. The conclusion he reached, 
in his short argument in regard to himself, embraced 



12 Introductory. 

the human race. This basal truth, learned by con- 
sciousness, has stood the test of centuries of criticism, 
and still holds its place in philosophy. It has, 
however, often unfortunately fallen into unskillful 
hands, and been greatly obscured by extraneous 
matters and blind metaphysical considerations. Seen 
as Prof. Huxley would have us regard it, it amounts 
to nothing. 

Locke starts with the assumption that mind exists ; 
then institutes a long and laborious inquiry into the 
origin of ideas. Whether he clearly perceived the 
ground he occupied is doubtful, but it is certain that, 
even if he did, no one else has been so fortunate. 
Had he said, in three lines, that ideas are the results 
of thought, and that it is the essential nature of mind 
to think and frame ideas, he would have expressed 
the truth in the case, and been understood. Kant's 
" Critique of Pure Reason" is a far greater and pro- 
founder work in the same line, resulting, however, 
because of the radical errors it contains, in greater 
obscurity. 

But, begin the investigation of any philosophical 
question as we may, it is impossible to proceed at 
any length in any channel of thought without being 
compelled to distinguish between substance and phe- 
nomena — cause and effect. In the conscious act of 
the being, implied in the expression I think, the ego, 
the substantive thinker, stands forth attended by the 



Introductory. 13 

phenomenon thought. Here is cause and effect. In 
regard to the facts in this case — facts both of be- 
ing and phenomenon — there can be no mistake ; to 
doubt is to call in question man's capacity to know, 
to deny is to deny that man is an intelligence. 

Here we have found a clearly-defined and trust- 
worthy starting-place, available in all philosophical 
investigations. But the inquiry will be made in 
regard to the essence or nature of this ego, this sub- 
stance which thinks, What is it ? And in reply, once 
and forever, we confess that we know nothing about 
it. Whatever it may be, it is at present placed be- 
yond the reach of human scrutiny. The veil which 
the Creator has thrown around himself, as an infinite 
spirit-substance, he has cast over all the substances 
which he has made. We know no more of the essence 
of an atom of carbon than we do of the essence of 
the mind or of God. We can from reason, a priori, 
discriminate no more the differences between an atom 
of carbon and an atom of nitrogen than between an 
angelic and a human spirit. We are familiar with 
mysteries, but there are none denser than that which 
overshadows the nature of being of every kind and 
every order. 

But, does the admission that the essence of sub- 
stance is unknown tend, in the least degree, to discredit 
the fact, or hypothesis, if you please, of its existence? 
If so, then all supposed existences, material, human, 




14 Introductory. 

and divine, are called in question. We may know 
that something is, and this knowledge may be of vast 
importance, though we may not be able to determine 
what it is. The propositions are two, and we may 
positively affirm the truth of the one and confess 
ignorance in regard to the other. In his crucible the 
chemist often unexpectedly discovers the presence of 
an unknown disturbing element; he is unable, as a 
consequence, to work out results as formerly he has 
done ; he searches for the cause, and finds in the 
crucible a substance of about the same specific gravity 
as iron, of a bluish color, very brittle, but not hard, 
and he gives it a name — gnidliub, or something 
else. On examination he finds he has an unchange- 
able and indestructible substance, possessing proper- 
ties and forces unlike those of any other known 
substance, but of the essence, whose nature finds ex- 
pression in these properties, he knows nothing. His 
conviction that he has a thing — a something — would 
not be increased if he knew exactly what it was and 
had handled it a thousand times. His experience 
would be, in the same situation, necessarily the expe- 
rience of every other intelligence. 

This view of the reality of substance of unknown 
essence harmonizes fully with all the laws of logic. 
Mind grasps the ideas of the properties and forces 
of the substance, for they come within the range of 
its powers ; it clearly grasps the fact of the exist- 



Introductory. 15 

ence of a something whose nature finds expression 
in these properties ; and between the mind and its 
unknown essence there is no collision, no contradic- 
tion, for the mind has no conception, not even the 
slightest conjecture, in regard to it. 

One of the fatal mistakes which Prof. B. P. Bowne 
makes,* in his theory of Metaphysics, is, that our knowl- 
edge in regard to the nature of things is a limit to 
the things themselves, so far as we are concerned ; 
and as we know nothing of the nature of substance, 
in regard to matter he denies its existence. We may 
be able to comprehend all there is in the proposition 
that two and two make four, but in the proposition, 
Mind thinks, there is but little we can comprehend 
beyond the naked fact. Of the nature and structure 
of the mind we know nothing ; how it can frame a 
thought, we have no conception ; and yet, notwith- 
standing these basal mysteries, we know that mind 
thinks. The little we are conscious of in the fact 
compels us to hold for true, that much more than we 
know exists. 

Our thoughts simply define the limits of our 
knowledge in regard to things, but can have no 
bearing upon the much or little of the things them- 
selves. My inability to know the essence of any sub- 
stance is not, therefore, any proof of its non-existence, 
or that it exists out of relation to my thought. 
* "Metaphysics," p. 7. 



16 Introductory. 

If a man were sure that his mind was commen- 
surate with the nature of all substance, material, 
ethereal, vital, mental, spiritual, angelic, and divine, 
he might regard his thoughts as the limits of things 
and being. But what human thought may be a 
priori about things is no test of their intrinsic nat- 
ure, of their properties, forces, or of any thing in 
regard to them. In this field of study every hypoth- 
esis, every conjecture, must be verified by experi- 
mental demonstration to be of any value. That a 
group of uniform phenomena, continuing from age 
to age, must have a basis and a cause in unchangeable 
substance, though in essence unknown, the laws of 
clear thinking require us to believe. 

The time was, we presume, when the Creator, as 
the thinking subject, conceived the idea of a universe 
of being ; and the things which now exist, with their 
properties and forces, may be regarded as an expres- 
sion of the thought which was then in the divine 
mind. Were man infinite in wisdom he would be 
able, a priori, to grasp this idea ; but, as he is finite, 
with a weak and sluggish capacity to know, he is 
compelled to study his Creator's works, and after all 
is learned which a human being can understand, it is 
probable that not half the letters of the alphabet of 
that divine idea are known. The human mind does 
not create nor give order to things; rather, the things 
instruct, direct, and give order to our thoughts. The 



Introductory. 17 

fabric of thought can have no foundation for its sup- 
port but the pre-existing and permanent fabric of 
nature. Should we witness " the wreck of matter 
and the crash, of worlds," all that we accept as its 
philosophy would go down with it. The phantasy 
called Idealism would not last an hour. 

Prof. Bowne says, in his Preface : " Physics is 
founded upon Metaphysics/' A broader statement, 
and one further from truth, has seldom been made. 
The idea is, that things must be brought into har- 
mony with our thoughts without experience in regard 
to them. But bow little there is which strikes all 
minds alike ; and in the myriads of cases of differ- 
ence, to wbose mode of thinking must nature con- 
form ? If physics is to take shape and bring itself 
into harmony with all the minds which think of it, it 
must be Protean indeed. But away from physics, 
and never having heard of such a science, what con- 
ception could we form of the constitution of matter ? 
Simply airy nothingness. We had supposed that 
ideas symbolized in words, in some cases represent- 
ed things, as that the word watch symbolizes the 
idea we have of a time-marking machine ; but Prof. 
Bowne teaches us that the idea is the basal real — the 
true thing — and that the watch is not substantive, but 
an appearance emanating from this idea ; also, that 
physical appearances have no substantial basis, but 
that they emanate from the idea we have of them. 



18 Introductory. 

Among the least of the difficulties of this theory is 
the fact, that idea and appearance do not always har- 
monize. We all have the idea that the sun is about 
800,000 miles in diameter ; but to some it is, in ap- 
pearance, the size of a half-bushel, to others the size 
of a cart-wheel. If possible, let us simplify and 
make clear this corner-stone of Idealism. The idea 
expressed by the word gold is all the real, true gold 
there is ; the yellow phantom which passes as money 
is not substance, but simply an appearance of a phys- 
ical expression "founded" upon a metaphysical idea. 
But let us inquire, Which existed first, the gold 
or the idea we have of it ? Did the idea bring the 
gold into existence and invest it with its properties ? 
or did the gold, existing now as it existed before 
man was made, give form, color, and precision to our 
thoughts concerning it ? Would we have had the 
idea had gold never existed ? How long would the 
idea of gold last, how much would its symbol signi- 
fy, and how much would it be worth in the markets 
of the world, should this apparition be dissolved ? 
Quite as much as the philosophy which teaches such 
nonsense. Take away the substantive real, and the 
ideal vanishes like the fabric of a dream. Idealism, 
in ignoring the known, and in setting aside all the 
verdicts of common sense, conducts us into the realm 
of pure fancy, where we can neither positively affirm 
nor deny any thing ; and then, though its arguments, 



Introductory. 19 

as Hume says, cannot be refuted, they produce no 
conviction. Pure Idealism is a perfect vacuum. 

The phenomenal world is divided into distinct, 
vast, and complicated classes or groups ; these never 
essentially change, nor cross the lines which separate 
them from each other. A stone was never known to 
blossom as a rose ; a rose was never known to join in 
the songs of the birds ; and a bird was never known 
to reason and worship like a man. To account for 
the existence of these distinct groups of phenomena 
we are compelled, by the laws of logic, to postulate 
separate and different substances as the base and 
cause of each. Each basal substance has its own dis- 
tinguishing properties, for it is only nonentity which 
is without qualities of any kind. The properties of 
any substance indicate its only possible mode of exist- 
ence. Substance cannot be conceived of as existing 
separate from its properties and forces. It is a 
matter of necessity that each different substance man- 
ifest its own properties, put forth its own energies, 
and none others. Whatever of properties, forces, 
and energies are in matter can be brought out of it, 
and there its development ends. Gold cannot be 
brought out of iron, for the reason that there is none 
in it. In short, each substance in existence must 
produce its own phenomena, and it can produce none 
other. 

Each substance itself is unchangeable in essence, 



20 Introductory. 

but as every substance is related to other substances, 
their forces, as the result of contact and union, are 
subject to endless modifications and the development 
of vast power. Such is the origin of earthquakes, 
cyclones, and of all the energies and activities of the 
physical world. Every substance is a self-centered 
source of energy. As substance is unchangeable, its 
properties, per se, must ever remain the same. The 
modifications they experience by contact with the 
properties of other things are only temporary, ending 
when the contact ceases. Oxygen, when united with 
hydrogen, gives us water ; united with sulphur, it 
gives us sulphuric acid ; then, separated from both, 
it appears as pure oxygen. Neither in its essence 
nor properties did it at any time, per se, experience 
any change. Ages of such experience would leave 
each atom as they found it. 

"We can proceed but a little way in the study of 
philosophy without coming into contact with the 
great problems of life and mind ; and it was their 
claim to consideration, especially in this materialistic 
age, which brought the following treatise into exist- 
ence. The new positive philosophy has, during the 
past half-century, put forth a supreme effort to prove 
that the matter of the chemist is the source of the 
vital and intellectual worlds. A vast amount of 
labor has been performed in this field with no posi- 
tive results, and for the reason that the method of 



Introductory. 21 

investigation has been vicious and absurd. In the 
study of the endowment of matter arguments and 
deductions are of no value whatever ; all such ques- 
tions can be settled only by experiment. Who by 
argument could have demonstrated, a priori, that ox- 
ygen and sulphur, by union, would produce the king 
of acids ? Or that water is composed of the two kinds 
of matter known as oxygen and hydrogen ? All the 
known facts of physics have been ascertained, not by 
reasoning and logic, but by repeated tests and trials. 
Along this line of thought proud Reason can boast of 
not a single triumph. The question, then, is : Have 
we, or has the chemist, by actual, palpable experi- 
ment, demonstrated that life and mind are the out- 
come of matter ? As this has not been done, all that 
has been written on the subject as argument, analogy, 
deduction, and inference is of no value. The ques- 
tion still remains one of palpable demonstration, to 
be effected by experiments with the matter of the 
chemist. 

If by experiment mental and vital results have not 
been brought out of matter, and if we have not the 
courage to look in that direction for them, we shall 
find ourselves compelled to regard these classes of 
phenomena as having each a substantive basis of its 
own. But it is very difficult for us, educated as we 
have been, to think of life and mind as substances. 
We have so long and so uniformly associated the 



22 Introductory. 

idea of substance with rocks, trees, the ground, and 
other forms of matter, that it is hard to make the 
term stand for any thing but such things as are solid 
and tangible. But the difficulty is not intrinsic and 
necessary — it is altogether the result of habit and. 
custom. When we become familiar with the fact 
that we know no more of the substance, or of an 
entity of matter, than we know of ether, life, or 
spirit ; and that we know nothing of any kind of 
being except as the fact of its existence is made 
known in its phenomena, we shall be as free to pos- 
tulate substance as the base of one order of phenom- 
ena as of another. The phenomena of any substance 
is the snbstance present, revealed as a reality, putting 
forth its energies and activities as expressions of its 
hidden nature. Thought, will, and feeling imply a 
mind present and in action ; a heaving breast and a 
beating heart are at their base vital energies. As the 
failure to prove that life and mind are the outcome 
of the matter of the chemist is absolute and final, we 
know of no solution of these problems which is left 
to science, except the assumption that each class of 
phenomena has a substantive basis of its own. 

Believing, then, that man exists as a being — that 
he is an intelligence, and that nature is an open vol- 
ume full of truth relating to him and his destiny — 
we propose to consult its pages and wait in silence 
wherein its voice may be heard. A labor of love, 



Introductory. 23 

not a pastime of idle speculations, is before us. 
Themes of vast practical importance to the nature 
and destiny of man will come up for consideration. 
Though we use in the frame-work of our argument 
very common and well-known material, we shall not 
tread a familiar path. If the principles and laws we 
find in nature we also meet again on the high plane 
of practical Christianity, realizing in that realm a 
special development and application, having a still 
further onward and upward look, the supposed gulf 
between science and religion will disappear, and the 
unity of truth be made manifest. 

If our reading of nature be correct, it will be valid 
for all time to come, for its laws will not change. 
The following presentation of our line of thought 
may be as rough and crude as the gold-bearing quartz 
quarried from the mountain, and it may be necessary 
for others of far better qualifications to take it up 
and separate the precious metal from the dross ; but 
even in that case we shall feel that we brought the 
gold to light, and have not written in vain. 

The ground over which we propose to conduct the 
reader we have thus briefly indicated. We shall aim 
especially to leave Materialism a wreck and a ruin 
behind us, and make conspicuous the truth that this, 
primarily, is a vital world. We shall touch Idealism 
only as it intrusively crosses our pathway. Specu- 
lative philosophy — mostly a mere waking dream — we 



24 Introductory. 

shall strive to shun, and if at all we enter the realm 
of metaphysics, it will be to bring it down within 
reach of common sense, and chain it more closely to 
the palpable facts of nature. Our argument we sub- 
mit to the critic, nor care how savagely he handles 
it, providing only he uses his knife in the interests 
of truth. Our purpose in writing we commend to 
such as are thoughtful, perplexed, and despondent 
in regard to the nature and destiny of man. 



MATTER, LIFE, AND MIND. 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE MATTER OR STUFF WROUGHT INTO ORGANIC 
BODIES. 

" If we look at matter as pictured by Democritus, and as defined 
for generations in our scientific text-books, the notion of conscious 
life coming out of it cannot be formed by the human mind." — Prop. 
John Tyndall. v 

§ 1. The constitution of Matter. 

¥E enter upon the study of Matter, not for the 
purpose of understanding its constitution for ; 
its own sake, but to ascertain if Life, as Materialism 
assumes, is one of its properties. 

We conceive Matter, as we know it, to be an 
aggregation of reals, the product of infinite Wisdom, 
absolutely good in itself, and perfectly adapted to 
the ends of its existence. As much by the wealth 
of its properties as by the depth of its mysteries, it 
carries us to the borders of the infinite unknown on 
which it laps, and any words of opprobrium cast 
upon it we regard as reflections upon its Maker. In 
the phenomenal world there is such an unfolding of 
its properties, so much is known and so much con- 



26 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

cealed, that the constitution of Matter must ever 
remain a problem of thrilling interest. 

By the use of the atomic theory and the principle 
of classification, it will not be difficult to form a cor- 
rect idea of all the known Matter of this globe ; and 
then it will be short work to select from the mass 
and characterize the kinds which nature uses in the 
structure of organic bodies. 

"We adopt the Atomic Theory of Matter as in 
some form rigorously true, and as affording the only 
logical conception we can form of its constitution ; 
but whether true or not, it is the only theory on 
which a scientific statement of the material universe 
can be made.- 

At present chemical analyses yields sixty-five differ- 
ent kinds of elemental atoms, and it is probable that 
future discoveries will increase the number, but not 
largely, as we are quite as likely to find new orbs in 
space as to discover new kinds of matter in the globe. 

An atom of oxygen represents fully one half of all 
known Matter; an atom of silicon, one fourth; an 
atom of aluminium, magnesium, and calcium, one 
eighth ; an atom of potassium, sodium, iron, and car- 
bon, one twentieth ; an atom of sulphur, hydrogen, 
chlorine, and nitrogen, one fortieth ; and the remain- 
ing elements, fifty-four in number, compose about 
one twentieth part of the Matter of the globe. 

Thus all known Matter is epitomized by some sixty- 
five elemental atoms, billions of which brought to- 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 27 

gether form a mass less in size than a pincli of 
snuff. 

Persistent efforts have been made to demonstrate 
that all Matter is composed of one substance, hydro- 
gen, but such attempts to accomplish the absurd 
must be regarded simply as freaks of the scientist, 
or as a spurious figment of a restless human brain. 
A disposition to simplify and make easy the prob- 
lems of Nature may have inspired these speculations ; 
but the hypothesis has not a fact for its support ; 
rather all the facts connected with the constitution of 
matter look in the opposite direction. 

In its meditations upon Matter, the mind — even the 
mind of the idealist — can find no resting-place ex- 
cept in an intellectual discernment of its primary 
atoms, or in imaginary points, which it substitutes 
for them. With our present knowledge all parties and 
creeds find that in the study of physics the practical 
adoption of the atomic theory is a matter of necessity. 

The present arrangement of the elements in chem- 
istry into monads, dyads, triads, tetrads, pentrads, and 
hexads, is based upon the reality and unchangeable- 
ness of the atoms. 

Although vast strides have been made during the 
past quarter of a century in the study of physics, every 
step, every revolution, has strengthened the atomic 
theory. It is, in fact, the key to the constitution of 
Matter. 

An elemental atom may be defined as a simple, 



28 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

utimate, indivisible, unchangeable, self -centered, in- 
destructible substance, subject to the law of affinity 
and gravitation, and only one of which can occupy 
the same space at the same time. 

The ultimate atoms are so small that they remain 
invisible, even when magnified two thousand diam- 
eters. Prof. Huxley thinks that an atom, if it could be 
measured, is less than the millionth part of an inch in 
diameter. The mind may be incapable of forming a 
definite conception of any thing so small, neverthe- 
less, it has no trouble in grasping the fact, as it grasps 
other incomprehensible facts. 

We have seen above that the universe is known to 
contain sixty-five different kinds of elemental atoms, 
and that they represent sixty-five kinds of Matter, or 
all the known Matter of the globe. Each kind of 
Matter is wholly unlike all other kinds. Each atom 
in essence is the same as all others of that kind. No 
one atom can be changed or transmuted into another, 
for that process would imply both the destructibility 
and creation of Matter. 

§ 2. Our ignorance of the origin and essence of Matter. 

Of the nature or essence of substance we know 
absolutely nothing ; the fact of its existence, not- 
withstanding the mysteries of its being, the mind is, 
however, compelled to admit. The Idealist substi- 
tutes for atoms mathematical points, which are un- 
substantial, and holds that the solid, extended, and 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 29 

ponderable mass is an illusion ; a nothing derived 
from nothing ; an appearance where nothing appears. 
The vulgar believe that when the burning wood in 
the stove is consumed it is destroyed, annihilated, 
gone to nothing ; the idealists hold that it came from 
nothing and is nothing. The two parties are not far 
apart, and we will allow them to settle their little 
difference between themselves. 

It is possible that the spectroscope may yet be 
so improved, or an instrument devised, as to enable 
our coarse senses to detect the presence of single 
atoms. This power we are anxious to see displayed, 
and possibly it may be lodged in a sunbeam. As the 
case now stands the presence of an atom can be 
known only as it forms in part a molecule or a mass. 
So attenuated is Matter in its primal state that a 
globe of atoms isolated by intense heat would be in- 
visible to the eye, and perhaps insensuous to the 
touch. 

It is probable that our globe began its history, long 
ages ago, as an immense cloud, composed mostly of 
oxygen and hydrogen, thrown off from the sun. 
Similar nebulous substances of all magnitudes — some 
of immense size — may be seen any cloudless night in 
different parts of the sky. Space is not the infinite 
vacuum it was once supposed to be. Every August 
and November the earth passes through a river of 
meteoric substances which sweep around the sun ; 
and every day and every night in the year it draws to 



30 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

itself more or less of the loose floating Matter, dis- 
persed throughout space. 

As this primal oxygenous cloud, occupying im- 
mense space between the orbits of Venus and Mars, 
swept around the Sun, its attractive force drew to its 
firm embrace every atom of every element it found 
in its pathway, the atoms it encountered being, like 
itself, in an elemental condition. At first the oxygen 
united with silicon, and a white sand was formed, and 
then the rocks ; it united with hydrogen, and a hot 
vapor appeared ; it united with iron, and the accumu- 
lation of this metal commenced; and thus, in the 
course of great cycles of time, the oxygen cloud grew 
into the consistency of the earth, as we see it to-day. 

Nor are our planetary heavens yet swept entirely 
clean of loose fragmentary Matter. Meteorites are 
drawn under the earth's influence all along; its path- 
way around the Sun, and many of them which strike 
the earth, and thus add to its magnitude, weigh 
thousands of pounds. The matter of sundered and 
lost comets is scattered and moving in space, no man 
can tell whither. 

But the foreign substances brought to the earth 
have added, during the past thousand years, iron, 
sulphur, nickel, oxygen, and such other Matter as it 
already possesses, having the same properties and 
obeying the same laws, but not a new element has 
been produced. The Matter of our chemists appears 
to be the Matter of the universe. 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 31 

It then may be accepted as an undoubted fact, that 
all the Matter now composing this globe was once in 
a gaseous state, and that in the form of an immense 
elongated cloud, or in the form of Thompson's " vor- 
tex rings " of fire-mist, it swept around the Sun. 
Each atom then possessed the full complement of 
properties and forces received in creation, and 
through all the ages which have since passed away, 
the innumerable changes of combination they have 
experienced have not wrought the slightest change in 
their essence or properties. 

The properties of Matter are the natural and nec- 
essary expression of the forces which inhere in its 
nature, and change or destruction of properties 
would imply the annihilation of the essence itself, 
which is unthinkable. Too great emphasis cannot be 
placed upon the fixity of Matter, the stability of its 
properties, and the uniformity of its action ; as a lia- 
bility to change would render a knowledge of Matter 
impossible. 

The least change in the oxygen, silicon, nitrogen, 
hydrogen, carbon, or any one of the abundant ele- 
ments, would change the constitution of the globe 
itself, and render it unfit to be the place of man's 
habitation. 

It is probable that other elemental substances may 
yet be found, or that some substance, now regarded 
as elementary, may be broken up into simpler ele- 
ments, but such discovery would not aifect the 



32 Ma.ttek, Life, and Mind. 

questions under discussion. The properties of Mat- 
ter are the same whether the elementary substances 
are sixty-five, or any other number. Or should rea- 
sons ever be found for rejecting the Atomic Theory 
of Matter, our estimate of its properties and forces 
would not in any manner be affected thereby. 

The Atomic Theory of Matter is made a practical 
necessity in the study of Physics, fully recognized by 
all classes of investigators, because, 

1. No kind of Matter is known except such as 
elemental atoms represent. 

2. All masses of Matter are composed of discrete 
parts, space intervening between the atoms.* 

3. Chemistry has demonstrated that the atoms of 
different elements are of determinate specific 
weight. 

4. It is susceptible of proof that the atom is a cen- 
ter of force. 

5. The Atomic Theory gives us stable things and 
real entities as facts to start with in the study of the 
properties and forces of Matter. It enables us to 
know at every step in the investigation exactly what 
we are dealing with and what to depend upon. 

6. Discard the Atomic Theory, and Matter is a 
subject which defies both definition and intelligent 
investigation. Chemistry deals with atoms, their 
properties, forces, and relations, as Astronomy does 

* In the expansion of a body the space between the atoms is in- 
creased, in contraction it is lessened ; atoms, per se, do not change. 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 33 

with heavenly bodies and the laws by which they are 
governed. 

7. The theory harmonizes and sums up the discov- 
eries made by Dalton, Kichter, Gay-Lussac, Avogardo, 
Ampere, Sir William Thompson, and Clerk Maxwell 
in regard to the constitution of Matter. 

8. Since the time of Dalton it has served all 
classes of investigators as an unerring guide in the 
study of Matter, and in no instance has it led them 
astray. 

9. Discard the Atomic Theory, and there is noth- 
ing left us but the mathematical points of the Idealist, 
and then we have nothing. The existence of Matter 
as substance is denied, and the word nihilism should 
be substituted for knowledge. 

§ 3. T/ie kinds of Matter which compose Organic Bodies. 

The Matter principally used in the structure of 
organisms, both vegetable and animal, are oxygen, 
hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphor- 
us. In some cases Nature appropriates the following 
elements, but more sparingly, namely : chlorine, bro- 
mine, iodine, iron, potassium, sodium, calcium, mag- 
nesium, silicon, zinc, copper, mercury, and arsenic. 

Let us carefully examine these substances, each by 
itself, and detect, if possible, any property or force 
they may contain, vital or otherwise, which will cause 
them to assume the form of organic bodies, either 
animal or vegetable. 



34 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Let it be borne in mind that, whatever changes 
may result from mixing or compounding the atoms. 
no change can be wrought in the essence or nature 
of the elements themselves. The union of different 
elements may modify endlessly their forces, but in no 
case can the substance itself be changed or its proper- 
ties altered. Every atom of Matter is now what it 
ever has been through all the ages of the past, and 
must ever remain the same, or cease to be. 

Oxygen, a colorless gas, constitutes, as we have 
seen, one half the Matter of the globe. It seems to 
be equally abundant in the sun, stars, and planets. 
Mixed with nitrogen, it gives us the air we breathe ; 
united with water, eight parts of oxygen to one of 
hydrogen, it gives us the waters of the globe. 
Neither air nor water seem to possess a trace of the 
nature of the elements of which they are composed. 
The forces of the individual elements seem, for the 
time being, to be destroyed by the modifying effects 
which the one element has upon the other. Oxygen 
is incombustible, yet necessary to combustion. With- 
out it animal life cannot exist. It possesses an ener- 
getic tendency to unite, when the conditions are 
suitable, with all other elements except fluorine. 
United with carbon it forms a gas, and in this con- 
dition immense quantities float in the air and serve as 
food for the vegetable world. In the formation of 
coal, the atmosphere was comparatively impoverished 
by the removal of its carbon ; but by this means 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 35 

earth was fitted to be the place of man's habitation. 
Yegetation appropriates the carbon and rejects the 
oxygen. Oxygen slowly unites with iron, forming 
rust ; it unites with carbon and hydrogen, forming 
alcohol ; with sulphur it forms sulphurous acid ; with 
sulphur and hydrogen it forms the oil of vitriol ; and 
with chlorine forms chlorotic aeid. With silicon it 
unites, forming a white sand and quartz ; and really it 
is the mightiest and most generally pervading ma- 
terial force of the globe.* Its abundance, and the 
scope of its endowments, make it a king in the realm 
of Matter; and its presence, far more than all the 
other elements combined, causes the earth, the rocks, 
the air, and the waters of the globe to be as we find 
them. 

Hydrogen is an abundant, colorless, transparent, 
and odorless gas. Its atoms are the smallest and 
lightest of known substances. In attempts to liquefy 
it by heavy pressure, it has found ite way through 
iron cylinders four inches in thickness. If breathed 
more than a moment or so, it destroys animal life, 
md yet, as an element, it enters largely into the com- 
position of all bodies, animal and vegetable. It forms 
a ninth of the waters of the globe ; is about a tenth 
part of the substance of the human body ; and enters 
other animal organisms. Before coal oil was manu- 

* When we come to speak particularly of the structure of organisms 
the peculiarities of this element will be called up for further consid- 
eration, 



36 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

factured balloons were filled with this gas, it being 
more than fourteen times lighter than the air. Its 
principal compound is water, though it unites reluct- 
antly with nitrogen, forming ammonia, and with some 
other substances. In the processes and changes caused 
by evaporation, it becomes freely mixed at a low tem- 
perature with oxygen to no effect. This condition of 
things may continue indefinitely, and not a drop of 
water be formed. It is often that many square miles 
of space in the heavens are thus occupied by these 
gases. But when penetrated by a flash of lightning 
from a passing cloud a union of the atoms instantly 
takes place, the molecules aggregate into drops, and 
the deluging rain falls upon the earth. The concen- 
trated gases tend to create an immense vacuum in 
the heavens, and the inrushing of the atmosphere to 
fill the space makes upon the ear the impression of 
detonating thunder. 

Hydrogen unites with carbon, forming a great 
variety of oleaginous compounds, and is largely used 
in the structure of all organic bodies. 

Nitrogen, in appearance, cannot be distinguished 
from oxygen, yet its properties are the direct oppo- 
site. What there is in the essense of the one element 
to cause it to differ so radically from the other, no 
mortal mind can even conjecture. Nitrogen destroys 
combustion, and is fatal to animal life ; yet, mixed 
with oxygen, it constitutes three fifths of the air we 
breathe. The reluctance with which this gas unites 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 37 

with other substances gives to gun-powder, nitro- 
glycerine,- gun-cotton, and some other substances 
their explosive power. On the least provocation 
nitrogen lets go its slight hold upon the other ele- 
ments, and then, in an instant, they demand as gases 
perhaps a hundred thousand times the room they 
needed as solids or liquids. The disintegrating forces 
of Nature are mostly found in nitrogen. In the 
growth of organic bodies, animal life, far more 
freely than vegetable, makes use of this substance. 

Carbon takes rank as one of the abundant substances 
of the material world. In a pure state it is never 
found only as a solid. If kept away from oxygen, 
the most intense heat yet applied makes no sensible 
impression upon it. Carbon assumes many forms. 
It is the coal of wood, after the other substances have 
been burned away ; it is the sooty substance which 
accumulates on the wick of an unsnuffed candle ; it is 
plumbago, or black-lead, the substance our pencils 
are made of ; the deposits of coal found in all parts of 
the earth, when pure, are the carbon of ruined forests 
of vegetation ; and the precious diamond is nothing 
but carbon crystallized. Both the vegetable and an- 
imal worlds are largely indebted to this substance for 
the Matter of their organisms. Carbon readily unites 
with oxygen, forming carbonic acid, a gas of extreme 
importance in the organic world. "Without it neither 
vegetable nor animal structures could be formed. 
It has been estimated by Prof. Mivart that every 



38 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

square mile of the earth's surface contains as much as 
three hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred 
and seventy-five tons of carbon in a gaseous state. 

The four elements now characterized constitute 
mostly the substance of protoplasm. 

/Silicon, next to oxygen, is the most abundant of the 
elements, constituting about one fourth the matter of 
the globe. It is never found perfectly pure, but 
always in alliance with oxygen, for which it has a 
strong affinity. This compound is called silica, of 
which white sand, white pebbles, quartz, and flint are 
good specimens. Silicon has an affinity for carbon, 
calcium, and many other substances. It is the rock- 
builder of the globe ; and were not its power, to a large 
extent, neutralized by the disintegrating force of nitro- 
gen, the globe would long since have been solid rock. 

/Sulphur, in Iceland, Sicily, and other volcanic 
countries, is often found in its pure elemental state. 
In other localities it occurs in combination with car- 
bon, zinc, coal, copper, and other metals. Sulphur is 
a well-known yellow solid, and possesses many pecul- 
iarities. At a certain temperature it is always in a 
crystalline condition. Its weight is just double that 
of oxygen, and it is the base of the strongest acid 
known to Nature. It is used only sparingly in the 
structure of organic bodies. 

Chlorine is one of the abundant, energetic, and use- 
ful elements. It is never found pure, and yet it is 
somewhat careful of the company it keeps. It is a 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 39 

greenish-yellow gas of an irritating and disagreeable 
odor. It is a heavy substance, and has an energetic 
affinity for some of the metals. It is the powerful 
bleaching agent of civilization, but is more univers- 
ally known as one of the components of common 
salt ; salt being the chloride of sodium. 

Iron is an element so well-known that it requires 
no description in this place. In animal structures it 
constitutes an important portion of the blood. ' 

Magnesium may be found in immense quantities in 
sea-water, and in combination with lime and carbonic 
acid. United with oxygen it forms the magnesia of 
commerce and medicine. 

Aluminium is an abundant element, and may be 
found in clay and slate ; it combines with silicon 
and potassium in the formation of feldspar, and 
is an essential ingredient of granite, gneiss, and por- 
phyry. The ruby, one of the most valuable of the 
precious stones, is a crystallization of aluminium and 
oxygen. 

Potassium is a metal which constitutes an impor- 
tant part of quartz rocks, and is the base of all sodas 
and baking preparations. It is the potash or alkali 
of Nature. Man has no means of extracting this 
metal in large quantities from the azoic rocks, where 
for ages it has been locked up. Vegetation, however, 
will draw the treasure forth, and we obtain it from 
the ashes of burned wood. This element gives to all 
alkalies their peculiar properties. In both the vege- 



40 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

table and animal kingdoms it plays an important 
part. 

Sodium, a component part of common salt, is found 
in all parts of the earth. Its presence gives character 
to the great Salt Lake of Utah. Immense beds of 
rock-salt are found in different parts of the earth. 
The most remarkable are in Poland, Bohemia, and 
Spain. The bed in Poland is five hundred miles long, 
twenty miles broad, and twelve hundred feet deep. 
The bed at Cordova, Spain, is a mountain of salt, five 
hundred feet high, and the salt is of the purest 
quality. Where these saline deposits now are, there 
were once deep depressions in the earth contiguous 
to a salt sea, and at high tides they were flooded 
with salt-water. During long ages, as the water 
evaporated the salt was precipitated to the bottom, 
till it filled the depressions. 

Calcium is a light, yellow metal, which quickly 
oxidizes in the air. Common lime is the oxide of 
calcium. The marble, chalk, and limestone forma- 
tions of the globe are largely composed of this sub- 
stance. It enters into the structure of animal organ- 
isms as bones, and the shells of mollusks are mostly 
composed of it. 

Arsenic is a non-metallic substance of a steel-gray 
color, and, when free from tarnish, is of a brilliant 
luster. It is sometimes found pure, but oftener 
combined with silver, iron, nickel, cobalt, antimony, 
and sulphur. It is a very brittle substance, and may 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 41 

easily be vaporized. Taken into the stomach in suf- 
ficient quantity it destroys animal life. It is spar- 
ingly used in the structure of organic bodies. 

Iodine is obtained from the ashes of sea- weed, and 
usually occurs in crystals and scales. It is a bluish- 
black solid, and has a metallic luster. It has an acrid 
odor and taste, and though a deadly poison, it is made 
available as a medicine. In its pure state the smallest 
quantity colors starch blue. At a moderate heat 
iodine is vaporized. Chemistry has never detected its 
presence in animal organisms. In sea-weeds it is 
abundant. 

Phosphorus is a yellowish, semi-transparent solid, 
resembling wax. In its native state it is found dif- 
fused throughout the older rocks. As by the action 
of the elements these rocks are disintegrated, it goes 
to the formation of soil, and its presence adds greatly 
to its fertility. Thus it becomes available for the 
structure of vegetable organisms. From the vegeta- 
ble it is transferred to animal bodies, and we obtain it 
mostly from seeds and bones. It is never found pure, 
but combined with oxygen and calcium. So great is 
its affinity for oxygen, that the friction of an icicle or 
the elevation of the temperature a little above the 
melting point will cause it to take fire, and then it 
burns with great energy. Without phosphorus or- 
ganic bodies would experience but a slow and 
dwarfed development. 

We have now noticed and characterized with sufll- 



42 Matter, Lite, and Mind. 

cient clearness, we hope, all the kinds of Matter which 
Nature uses in the structure of both vegetable and ani- 
mal bodies. Thirteen of the elements noticed compose 
at least thirty-nine fortieths of the Matter of the globe, 
and the first four of the number not less than nine 
tenths of the Matter of all organic bodies. Gold, sil- 
ver, copper, tin, and the other elements not mentioned, 
have no place in vital structures. Thus it appears 
that Matter has no peculiar mysteries, contains no se- 
cret power, and that the most active and energetic 
kinds of Matter are those which are the most com- 
mon and abundant. The ground, the stones by the 
way-side, the air, and the running brook, we may say, 
constitute Nature's inner sanctuary, if it have any. 

§ 4. Tlte sway of Oxygen over other kinds of Matter. 

Oxygen is found every-where. There is scarcely a 
metal, mineral, or gas with which it is not combined. 
In granite and in all the older rocks immense quanti- 
ties of it have remained tixed for ages. It is as 
abundant thousands of feet down in the bowels of the 
earth as on the surface ; and the tops of the highest 
mountains, in the form of snow and ice and air, are 
burdened by its weight. As an energetic and ever- 
active element, whatever it has power to do, it accom- 
plishes openly before our eyes. 

In its universal diffusion, does oxygen display an 
ability, or the least tendency, to generate either veg- 
etal or animal life ? Many facts clearly indicate that, 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 43 

in the inconceivably remote past, all the Matter of 
this globe was in a state of igneous fusion : also, 
that at a period still more remote, it was in its ele- 
mental state — when, as a gaseous globe, its diameter 
was some thousands of times greater than now, — 
in this atomic fire-mist a war of elements raged, 
which, in force and fury, were what we see on a 
small scale in the cyclones of flame which now fre- 
quently take place in the Sun. Such is the nature of 
oxygen, that in the laboratory, at a certain tempera- 
ture, it will devour steel and the diamond as if they 
were but paper. The burning of a city, amid a tor- 
nado of wind and name, is but the unrestrained action 
of oxygen upon the buildings. Its affinity for some 
elements is much stronger than for others ; and this 
necessitates the breaking up of old alliances and the 
formation of new ones. The stronger alliances were 
first formed in the structure of the granite rocks. 
At the same time immense quantities of oxygen and 
hydrogen united, amid the play of lightnings aad 
thunders that shook the earth's mass, and enshrouded 
the globe with burning vapor ; other quantities 
united with carbon, forming a gas which constituted 
a large part of the lower atmosphere ; and still other 
portions sought alliances with calcium, magnesium, 
and all the other elements, except fluorine. 

It was under such a condition of things that the 
globe became impregnated with oxygen ; and can the 
acutest observer detect the slightest tendency on its 



44 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

part to generate life, or to work Matter into organic 
bodies ? In the primitive action of Matter, the nearest 
approach its forces could make to the generation of 
life would be effected by the fury of warring flames. 

Under the sway of the unvarying laws of its being, 
each part of Nature accomplishes the purpose the 
Creator intended. In the formation of water by the 
union of oxygen and hydrogen we witness the obe- 
dience of these elements to a divine command. The 
oxygen now in the atmosphere is not the accident- 
al remainder, the mere surplusage which was left, 
after every thing else was supplied. Nitrogen, hav- 
ing but the slightest affinity for any thing, was al- 
lowed to float freely anywhere, and as a result our 
atmosphere is composed mostly of a mixture of oxy- 
gen and nitrogen. Apparently we have the nitrogen 
because nothing else will have it ; we have the oxy- 
gen because every thing else has a full supply, and 
there is an abundance left for us. This even bal- 
ancing of forces is the result of many complications, 
and the thousands of daily changes which occur do 
not disturb their equilibrium, indicating that a pre- 
siding will exists somewhere. 

Professor Miller makes the following estimate of 
the elements of the atmosphere : 

Oxygen 1,233,010 billions of tons. 

Nitrogen 3,994,593 " " 

Carbonic acid 5,287 " " 

"Watery vapor 54,460 " " 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 45 

§ 5. A Non-vital Globe, or the reign of mere Matter. 

Let us now divest our minds of all conceptions of 
Life and organic structures, and look upon the globe 
as a mass of mere Matter. Let mid-ocean and ice- 
locked islands, and deserts of sand and rock, every- 
where prevail. The idea is not new, for astronomers 
teach us that the moon is such a rocky, cheerless orb. 
Were it not for the presence of Life earth would pre- 
sent a barren, desolate waste, in which an imaginary 
spectator might witness the play of earthquakes, vol- 
canoes, hurricanes, and storms ; rivers might run and 
billows roll ; there might be bleak mountains and 
desolate valleys ; but such a world would be without a 
flower, without a bird, and without a living thing. 
We have been too long familiar with the varieties 
and beauties of organic bodies to be astonished at 
their presence, or to be able to realize the desolations 
of their absence. If the Mind, however, could be 
wholly occupied with mere Matter and its forces, the 
appearance of a spire of grass or of a flower would 
strike it as the marvel of marvels. Were our eyes 
familiar only with the desert, how would the appear- 
ance of the fleet-footed antelope, or the swoop of an 
eagle, or the song of the nightingale, or the marching 
of an army of men, impress us ? The wonder would 
be, what had put together and into shape such masses 
of Matter ; the still higher wonder would be, their ac- 
tivity, A tree standing in such a waste, or a rose 



46 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

blooming there, would be regarded as a miraculous 
phenomenon. 

The idea that the waters, the rocks, the dirt, or the 
sand had worked themselves up into the flower, or 
the eagle, or the tree, could not be embraced as a truth 
by the human Mind. An angel brought out of a 
block of marble, as a sample of skill, is not to be 
compared to the structure of a flower or of the hum- 
blest worm. 

§ 6. The Sway of Life on Earth. 

Whence, then, came this organic world, composed 
of vegetable and animal structures, with which we are 
so familiar? The organic bodies which have existed 
in the past, and which now exist, in number and va- 
riety surpass human comprehension. A considerable 
portion of the earth's surface is formed of the remains 
of the dead, and still earth, air, and the waters swarm 
with living existences. Many islands of the sea, and 
thousands of miles of sea-coast and promontory, are 
but the remains of the coral and shell-fish. Much of 
the Matter of the globe has been incorporated in dif- 
ferent organisms scores, and probably thousands, of 
times; and the intercourse and commerce which is 
going on between the organic and the inorganic 
world has been immense and long continued. 

It has been estimated by Prof. Faraday that, to meet 
the demands of the vital or organic world, not less 
than a million billion tons of inorganic Matter are 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 47 

annually consumed ; that is, wrought into organic 
bodies, and probably half that amount is given back 
to the inorganic world again. The commerce between 
inorganic and organic nature, exceeding by far the 
exchanges of all nations, prevents the equilibrium of 
the elements, fixity, and death. Take Life away from 
the earth, and the forces remaining, such as heat, af- 
finity, winds, waves, electricity, and earthquakes, 
would not be sufficient to save it from the reign of 
universal inertia. 

What, then, we again demand, is the cause of this 
organic world ? Bishop Randolph S. Foster writes 
carelessly when he says : " A grain of sand and a 
drop of water are organic bodies." The fact is, an 
organism is a structure that lives ; it is either animal 
or vegetal, and possesses at least the organ of assimi- 
lation. Man's body is the most complicated of or- 
ganic bodies, counting his nerve-centers, veins, arter- 
ies, and all other distinct parts, his body is composed 
of millions of distinct organs ; and it is easier to ex- 
plore a continent as is generally done by travelers 
than thoroughly examine the human body. A perfect 
knowledge of the organic world 'implies the mastery 
of botany, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and nat- 
ural history; and a life-time is not long enough for 
any man to acquire this wisdom. Study a world of 
mere Matter, study it long and well, till the Mind is 
filled with it and the conception clear ; then enter the 
world of Mind and Life and organic bodies, and the 



48 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

conviction will press home with overwhelming force 
that something more than Matter has come within 
the range of vision. 

§ 7. The Achievements of Matter. 

But let us give to Matter a fair show ; let us look 
closely into its endowments, and, if possible, detect 
vitality there as one of its forces. The mode of Be- 
ing peculiar to Matter is that of manifestation, and 
not concealment. If Matter is vital, we shall be glad 
to see it demonstrate the fact by working itself into 
an organic body, or in some way submitting to our 
observation vital phenomena. The motions we wit- 
ness of suns, stars, and planets — the shrinkage and 
settling of the earth's crust, beautifying its surface 
with mountains and valleys — the shock of earth- 
quakes and the heaving of volcanoes — the rush of 
tornadoes and the flash of lightnings, falling torrents 
and rushing rivers — the forces of light, heat, and 
electricity — the attractions and repulsions of atoms, 
are proofs that in this world of Matter there are forces 
at work whose greatness and delicacy are inconceiv- 
able except by the Infinite Mind. 

Prof. Faraday estimates that eight thousand mill- 
ion pounds of oxygen are required daily for the use 
of men and animals, and for the purposes of combus- 
tion, fermentation, and decay. Other kinds of Matter 
in their sphere are equally active when the conditions 
are suitable. We are free to admit that the forces of 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 49 

material nature, in number, variety, and strength, are 
practically infinite. The forces of attraction and re- 
pulsion, of friction and resistance, are ever at work 
among- the free elements, and between masses of 
Matter extending to all the orbs in space, assuming 
under different circumstances the aspects of light, 
heat, electricity, magnetism, galvanism ; and not un- 
frequently the war of elements is terrible, shaking 
heaven and earth. The forces of the atoms in 
masses of Matter, here and there, may so perfectly 
balance each other that they will be passive or inert, 
but it is folly to ascribe to Matter as a whole, inert- 
ness as a quality. The changes and commotions of 
the Matter of the globe result from the action and 
collision of contrary forces, and should these forces 
find rest in a state of equilibrium, Nature, figuratively 
speaking, would be dead. 

But do the forces of Matter ever manifest the least 
tendency to build up organic structures, or in any 
way manifest vitality as a property? These are 
questions of fact, not argument, and the Materialist, 
to hold his ground, must exhibit the self-organizing 
power of Matter. 

Silicon is ever at work to reduce every thing it 
touches to solid rock, and nitrogen is just as busy to 
dissolve and reduce every thing it touches to their 
elemental condition. Neither element, however, mani- 
fests any tendency to work itself or any other substance 
into an organic body. Oxygen readily unites with all 



50 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

substances which enter into vegetal and animal bodies ; 
but with nitrogen it gives us only the air ; with hydro- 
gen, water ; with carbon, an acid ; with iron, rust ; 
with iron and hydrogen, a jelly-like substance, the per- 
oxide of iron ; and this is its highest achievement. 

Elements, when compounded, develop peculiar 
properties. We cannot use oxygen and hydrogen 
as a substitute for water, nor chlorine and sodium 
for salt. The compounds, water, carbonic acid, and 
a variety of other substances into which enter either 
iron, calcium, or silicon, as component parts, are 
physical provisions demanded by the necessities of 
both the animal and vegetal world ; but these com- 
pounds are no nearer organic structures than were the 
elemental atoms. 

The atoms of carbon may be so united as to form 
in one case charcoal, in another black-lead, in another 
lamp-black, in another the diamond ; but in no case 
an organism, nor any approach to it. 

Stranger still, hydrogen and carbon, in exactly the 
same percentage, may be so united that the new com- 
posite will possess the properties of the essential oils 
of roses, of bergamot, orange, lemon, lavender, tur- 
pentine, rosemary, nutmeg, myrtle, and peppermint ; 
but in all this strange development of force by a 
different arrangement of the atoms of the same ele- 
ments, not the least approach is made to an organism. 

Let us glance at the action and reaction of more 
complicated compounds, and see if organic structures 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 51 

are not still within the reach of Matter. Nitrogen 
will unite with silver and oxygen, forming nitrate of 
silver; hydrogen will unite with chlorine, forming 
hydro-chloric acid ; now we have five elements and 
two compounds ; let us put the compounds together 
and see if an organism of some kind — a " cell " or a 
" calf " — will not be the product of the forces of Mat- 
ter. We find that the chlorine of the hydro-chloric acid 
divorces itself from the hydrogen and unites with the 
silver, which, severing its connection with the nitro- 
gen, produces chloride of silver; and the hydrogen 
of the hydro-chloric acid unites with the discarded 
nitrogen and with the oxygen of the nitrate of silver 
and forms nitric acid. Our original compounds have 
mutually destroyed each other, and two new ones 
have taken their place ; but we are as far from the 
living cell, or from any organism, as when we com- 
menced. 

The above-described action and interaction of dif- 
ferent kinds of Matter may be taken as samples of 
the innumerable combinations and recombinations 
which for ages have been going on in Nature's vast 
laboratory ; the forces of light, heat, electricity, af- 
finity, and repulsion have been developed ; but in no 
instance has been produced any kind of a living 
thing. 

Does not the study of the different kinds of Matter 
suggest the idea that it was not made for itself— that 
there must be something else somewhere to which it 



52 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

is correlated ? What object of moment can pure 
Matter itself accomplish ? Can the ruby present any 
value or beauty to the diamond ? "What part of 
material Nature is benefited by the coal and oil de- 
posits found in the earth ? Are they correlated to 
the beds and mountains of salt found in different 
places ? Does gold exist for the sake of iron ? or for 
the benefit of any other kind of Matter ? Is the air 
made for the water or the water for the air ? Why 
are circuits given to the winds? that they may smite 
the sea, and lash it into foam and billows? Is it 
for the sake of rocks and sands that the dews and 
rains fall ? Is winter a revenge on the warmth of 
summer? If this is a world of mere Matter, and 
Matter exists solely for itself, who is wise enough to 
read the unlettered and voiceless volume and point out 
its meaning, as a whole or in correlated parts ? 

§ 8. The Forces and Scope of Matter Limited. 

The study of Matter simply as Matter, and the 
relation of one element to another, can have nothing 
for its aim and end but physical relations and phys- 
ical force ; and in such a line of thought vitality 
should not be thought of. The sum of the new phi- 
losophy is embraced in what may be known of Matter 
and its forces. Prof. Emil Dubois Raymond con- 
fesses as much. I quote his words : 

"Natural science is a reduction of the changes in 
the material world to motions of atoms caused by cen- 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 53 

tral forces independent of time, or a resolution of the 
phenomenon of Nature into Atomic Mechanics. The 
resolution of all changes in the material world into 
motions of atoms, caused by their constant central 
forces, would be the completion of natural science." 

Raymond is as bold as he is honest. "Atomic 
Mechanics " embraces the entire circle of natural 
science, according to this high authority. When, 
therefore, Materialists approach the organic world, 
their tirst business should be to demonstrate, by ex- 
periment, that vitality is the outcome of "Atomic Me- 
chanics ; " and until this is done they have no right 
to touch the sciences of Biology or Psychology. They 
first limit natural science to Matter — to the "motions 
of the central forces of the atoms " — a field of observa- 
tion in which no trace of life has ever appeared, and 
with such elements as their only data they discuss the 
highest problems of Life, Mind, and Destiny ! 

Now, if vitality is a property of Matter, the palpable 
fact is capable of unquestionable demonstration ; and 
this is the starting-point in the argument, and we 
demand it of the Materialist, or, if he is incapable 
of furnishing the sensible proof, we enjoin silence 
upon him. Yolume has followed volume developing 
and illustrating the philosophy of Mr. Spencer, which 
is built upon the hypothesis that Matter, pure and 
simple, has worked itself into the organic and intel- 
lectual worlds. Of this vast display of Matter spring- 
ing into Life, it is our right to witness some little 



54 Matter. Life, and Mind. 

part. Let it be clone in the presence of a competent 
jury, and thus end the controversy. A few lines from 
Mr. Spencer, instructing us in the art of spinning a 
hair or constructing a mustard-seed, would be worth 
more than all the volumes he has written. Value is 
attached to a mine when the quartz-rock yields gold 
in paying quantities, but till then it will be folly to 
throw its stock upon the market, for it will find no 
purchasers. Tested by the same principle, Mate- 
rialistic Science, as the case now stands, is worth- 
less — yes, it is a sham and a fraud — in so far as it 
touches the question of Life, Mind, and the Organic 
World. It is a mine from which no thought, or fact, 
or truth has ever been extracted which forms an 
element in the vital world, Materialists themselves 
being judges. 

We, therefore, repeat with emphasis, that until the 
Materialist can palpably demonstrate that all kinds 
of Life, and the highest form of Intellectuality, are the 
sure outcome of pure Matter, he is not entitled to be 
heard on any question connected with the Organic or 
Rational World. In these departments of truth he is 
an interloper — an officious intermeddler. His hy- 
pothesis is a universe of Matter, and by its demon- 
strable properties and forces — by the " mechanism of 
its atoms" — let him abide. 

The question before us does not relate to any form 
of Speculative Philosophy; it is a question of palpable 
fact, recognized, as such, by every attempt made to 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 55 

produce spontaneous generation. Vitality is, or it is 
not, one of the properties of Matter. Matter can, or 
it cannot, work itself into an organic body, plant or 
animal. These are the crucial facts of the case, 
and the testimony of all Nature, through all known 
time, is against Materialism, and its champions are 
compelled to confess it. 

As the essence of Matter is unchangeable, it is but 
a weak and convenient dodge to say, that though Life 
and Matter are now separated in Nature by an impass- 
able gulf, such was not always the case, nor will it 
forever continue. Not a fact nor an analogy in 
Nature can be brought forward in proof of such an 
assertion. Our argument and demand are now be- 
fore the Materialist, and both can be met at the same 
time and in the same way. No words of speculation, 
nor even the prophecies of the Materialist, will meet 
the case; as a question of fact, it must have fact for 
its support. 

It as much accords with observation and experience 
that icebergs, from their summits, should spout flames 
of fire, or that a circle should also possess the figure 
of a triangle, as that any kind of Matter should 
give forth vital phenomena. The chemist can bring 
together the matter of a grain of wheat, or of bio- 
plasm, and can even build up something which will 
resemble a "cell," but can he make any of these 
things live % It is not claimed by Materialists that 
such a feat was ever accomplished. Prof. Tyndall 



56 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

assures us, " that after eight months of incessant la- 
bor" to prove that Matter could be made to generate 
Life, " he was forced, by overwhelming evidence, to 
the conclusion that Life can come only from ante- 
cedent Life." 

When the Materialist will take us into his labora- 
tory and permit us to see Matter grow into a hair, or 
a mustard-seed, we will concede vitality to it. Posi- 
tive Philosophy, or "Modern Science," means simply 
the " mechanism of atoms." It recognizes no other 
foundation, uses no other material, enters no other 
field of labor. Matter — the Matter of the chemist, 
the only Matter known to us — is the only real it con- 
siders, and its forces embrace the sum total of the 
forces of the universe. This Positive Philosophy 
takes its stand outside the Organic "World ; for an 
organism to be examined must first be subjected to 
chemical analysis, and then it is an organism no more. 
An organism, as stick, is excluded from its method 
of inquiry, and its futile efforts to produce an organ- 
ism by virtue of the forces inherent in Matter reveal 
its insufficiency. 

§ 9. Misgivings of Materialists. 

But Materialists feel that they stand upon narrow 
ground, and that they are wrestling with problems 
which transcend immeasurably the limits of their 
data. Prof. Tyndall, the philosopher of sentiment, 
proposes the following method of escape from these 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. 57 

difficulties : " Either let us open our eyes freely to the 
conception of creative acts, or, abandoning them, let 
ns radically change our notions of Matter." Again : 
" Believing, as I do, in the continuity of Nature, I can- 
not stop abruptly where the microscope ceases to be 
of use. Here the vision of the Mind authoritatively 
supplements the vision of the eye. By an intellectual 
necessity I cross the boundary of the experimental 
evidence." That is, on the basis of the Matter we 
know Mr. Tyndall ceases to be a Materialist ; he 
passes, by a poetic flight, beyond the boundaries of all 
we know or can know T of Matter, and in an unknown 
figment of his fancy postulates the cause of vital phe- 
nomena. He knows that a something we call " Con- 
scious Life" exists; the "notion" that it can come 
from Matter, as we know it, "cannot be formed by the 
Mind ; " it must come from some source, therefore let 
us have a new "definition of Matter" — such a defi- 
nition as will invest it with Life and consciousness. 
Is not Mr. Tyndall, except in name, a Yitalist? Intel- 
lectually he discerns a something, unknown and un- 
picturable, which he recognizes as the cause of vital 
effects ; he gives it no name, we call it Life. No new 
Matter has been discovered, nor has a discovery been 
made of a new property in the Matter we have, nor 
has the least trace of vital force been found in Matter. 
Matter is supposed to manifest, not conceal, its prop- 
erties, and the presence of the 000,000.5 part of a 
grain of sodic compound is easily detected by the 



58 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

spectroscope ; of lithium, the 000,000.16 part of a 
grain can be detected. If Life is there, why not 
bring it into action ? 

§ 1 0. Materialism builds only upon Matter. 

Materialism accepts the Matter we know as the 
basis of its Philosophy, and we are not required to 
follow any of its erratic advocates into the vacuum 
or into the unknown realm beyond. To leave the 
Matter of the chemist, and postulate an argument 
upon the supposed but unknown ether, or to call for 
a new and extended definition of Matter as ground 
for argument, is, if not to surrender, to hoist the 
white flag and fly to another field. Two theories of 
Life are before us. Mr. Tyndall's is this : By an 
" intellectual necessity " he passes beyond all that is 
known of Matter, and yet postulates Life upon that 
chimera as one of its properties; on the other side, 
Vitalists recognize Life as non-material in essence, 
property, and phenomena. Is it not possible that 
when Mr. Tyndall passes beyond all that we know 
of Matter that he enters the realm of Vitality % At 
times he seems to have such a consciousness. He 
says : " Was life implicated in the nebulae — as part, 
it may be, of a vaster and unfathomable Life?" 
Evidently in this profound remark he had more than 
a glimpse of the vital universe for which we plead. 
But what business have Materialists with unknown 
Matter, or with the unknown properties of known 



The Mattek op Organic Bodies. 59 

Matter ? In either case the basal factor in their Logic 
is an unknown element, and, of course, in their con- 
clusion there is nothing reliable. 

Such are the properties of Matter that it is not 
possible for it to exist and escape the scrutiny of the 
laboratory, the microscope, and the spectroscope ; 
especially in quantities sufficient to give existence to 
the Organic World. Its affinities give it such a tend- 
ency to aggregation that, sooner or later, it must, in 
masses, become visible. In every organic body we 
find an agent or a power at work which, in an imma- 
terial way, rules both Matter and its forces — a power 
never present in an inorganic body ; and we are com- 
pelled, by a logical necessity, to conclude that that 
power is a something not Matter, especially so if we 
can prove that it is not any kind of known Matter. 

§11. Matter yields no sign of Vitality. 

We are not required to carry this discussion into 
the region of the hypothetical ether, since Material- 
ists deal only with the Matter of the chemist. We 
may, then, inquire: Is vitality a property of the atoms? 
and of all the atoms of every kind of Matter ? Can 
an atom loose any one of its properties? If so, it 
may loose all, and that would imply the destruction 
of Matter. If not all, which of the elements generate 
Life as a resultant? Is it possible that Matter can 
possess, and at the same time persistently conceal, the 
properties which cause vital phenomena? Can Matter 



60 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

possess these properties as forces inhering in them- 
selves at one time — say when supposed to be alive — 
and be divested of them at another time, at death ? 
Are Life and Death a mere shifting of the properties 
of Matter ? View the subject as we may to find Life, 
we must go beyond all we know or can conceive of 
Matter, and in so doing we cross the gulf and enter 
the world of Vitality. 

Does it give the logical Mind a severer wrench to 
accept the hypothesis that Life, Mind, and Spirit ex- 
ist as substances, than to build upon the chimera of 
unknown Matter, or to attempt to fly to a new and 
fanciful definition of Matter, framed as a necessity, 
to meet a case of distress ? 

Vainly has Matter been subjected to all the tortures 
of the laboratory to compel it to reveal the supposed 
secret of its vitality, but not the least structural con- 
nection between Matter and Life, or Thought, has 
been discovered. 

§ 12. Confessions of Materialists. 

A few Materialists rashly boast that they have car- 
ried the day, and that the great debate is ended ; but 
Prof. Tyndall nervously distrusts the ground on 
which he stands. Wisely he says : " There ought to 
be a clear distinction made between Science in the 
state of hypothesis and Science in the state of fact ; 
and inasmuch as it is still in its hypothetical stage, 
the ban of exclusion ought to fall upon the theory 



The Matter of Organic Bodies. Gl 

of Evolution." " Those who hold to the doctrine of 
Evolution are by no means ignorant of the uncer- 
tainty of their data ; and they yield to it only a pro- 
visional assent. In reply to your question, they will 
frankly admit their inability to point to any satisfac- 
tory experimental proof that life can be developed 
save from demonstrable antecedent life." " I share 
Yirchow's opinion, that the theory of Evolution, in its 
complete form, involves the assumption that at some 
period or other of the earth's history there occurred 
what would now be called Spontaneous Generation. I 
agree with him, that the proofs of it are still wanting. 
I hold, with Virchow, that the failures have been lam- 
entable, that the doctrine is utterly discredited." 

Mr. Tyndall's disclaimers, doubts, and concessions 
accord exactly with our reading of a world of Matter. 
Materialistic Science has not only not advanced a 
step, but it has no foothold. We repeat, that by its 
avowed Materialism, its field of operation is limited 
to "the mechanism of atoms," and from these it must 
evolve Life and Mind, or it is self-excluded from the 
organic and psychological worlds. Tyndall laments 
that this cannot be done ; and says that all such profes- 
sions are "utterly discredited." "We all confess," he 
says, " that organic matter is mere matter ; and the Ma- 
terialist has not yet established the right to say more." 

When we contemplate the vastness of the uni- 
verse, the great variety of known material substances 
created, each an essence peculiar to itself, the exhaust- 



62 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

less wealth and variety of powers and forces therein 
displayed, we see no reason why we should staler 
at the hypothesis, that underlying Matter, its forces 
and properties, we meet the faint and feeble outcrop- 
ping of other orders of substances which constitute a 
vast vital universe. The vital and material worlds 
are connected, because the forces of a few kinds of 
matter are correlated to the forces of life. The exist- 
ence of a living God granted, a vital universe is the 
necessary corollary. 

To most minds the word Substance suggests the idea 
of the matter of the chemist, and nothing more. In 
theology the term is applied to each of the Persons or 
Distinctions revealed in the Godhead, and the inter- 
ests of clear thinking and sound philosophy demand 
that it be freely admitted into the terminology of 
Psychology and Vitality. We have as good reason 
for regarding Mind and Life as Being — as Substance 
—as either Matter or Deity. It may be that the Mat- 
ter of the chemist — embracing many distinct kinds — 
includes but a small portion of the substances of the 
universe. In the realm of Life, Mind, and Spirit, the 
kinds and orders of Being may, in number and variety, 
equal their greatness as compared to Matter. In the 
space between Matter and the humblest order of Life, 
not only the ether of speculation, but many other sub- 
stances, may exist, embracing electricity, and possibly 
light and gravitation. Whatever is a self-centered 
source of energy is substance. 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 63 



CHAPTER II. 

THE VARIETY OF VITAL ELEMENTS AS THE BASIS OF 
ORGANISMS. 

" Living beings do exist in a mighty chain from the moss to the 
man; but that chain, far from founding, is founded in the idea, and 
is not the result of any mere natural growth of this into that. On 
every ledge of nature, from the lowest to the highest, there is a life 
that is its — a creature to represent it, to reflect it." — J. H. Stirling. 

§ 1. Life Defined. 

THE term Vitality may be defined as signifying 
Substance, embracing all the specific kinds of 
Life, which so co-operate with the forces of certain 
kinds of Matter, as to work this world-stuff into or- 
ganic bodies, vegetable and animal. 

Mind, being more than a Life though living, is ex- 
cluded from this definition. Vitality constitutes the 
unvarying mark of distinction between the inorganic 
and the organic world. As the abstract and independ- 
ent existence of vital force is unthinkable, and as it 
never proceeds from Matter as its cause, we are com- 
pelled, by a logical necessity, to postulate for it, as its 
cause, an antithetic Vital Substance. 

Of the essence, nature, form, or content of Vital 
Substances we can form no intelligent conception ; 
but in this particular we are no more helpless than 



64 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

when we undertake to comprehend the nature of 
atoms, or of any kind of being or substance. 

The spectroscope teaches us that the moon is a 
mass of inert or passive Matter. The war of its ele- 
ments is over, because they have found rest in a state 
of equilibrium. In the absence of an atmosphere, its 
cold and rocky bosom is incapable of supporting any 
kind of life ; and not on its craggy heights, nor in 
the abysmal depths of its craters, can an insect, a 
plant, or a shell be found. We can imagine that 
such combinations of the matter of this globe might 
be effected as would extinguish its associated forms 
of vitality, absorb or dry up its waters, appropriate its 
atmosphere, and establish the reign of absolute inert- 
ness and death. As it is, we behold the union of two 
correlated kingdoms, the Vital and the Material, and 
all that is lovely and beautiful and good is the result. 

Vitality, as a generic term, embraces all the indi- 
vidual lives which find development in either the 
animal or vegetable kingdom. Our difficulty in ad- 
mitting that Life is Substance is purely subjective, 
and arises from an improper sensuous conception of 
things. Scientists intellectually discern the existence 
of a substance they call Ether, filling the inter-stellar 
spaces, and serving as the agent for the transmission 
of light and gravitation. The proof of the exist- 
ence of this substance is wanting ; and if it exist, no 
conception can be formed of its nature or content. It 
cannot be the Matter we know, since it obeys none 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 65 

of the laws of Matter. But our reasons for assuming 
the existence of a peculiar Vital Essence or Sub- 
stance, as the base and cause of each organic body, 
are that, Matter being out of the question, in no 
other way can the phenomena be accounted for. We 
must occupy this ground, or assume that the Vital 
Force displayed in the universe is without cause. All 
the phenomena of the animal and vegetable kingdoms 
indicate that a vital element, as the elemental atom 
of Matter, is a self-centered unit, a part of a vast vital 
realm, and that it must forever remain as created or 
cease to be. Matter cannot create nor multiply itself, 
much less originate life ; hence the theory of Spon- 
taneous Generation cannot be true. The life of the 
Amoabe is as much beyond its capacity as that of a 
seraph. 

§ 2. Life a Reality, and not a Force. 

The conceptive idea of Vitality which pervades 
this treatise is, that it includes innumerable substan- 
tive units — parts of an immeasurably vast universe, 
and that these are so varied in essence or kind that 
they constitute the vegetable and animal kingdoms, 
filling earth, air, and water with living things. Any 
hypothesis less definite and substantive than this 
leaves us at the mercy of the logic of Materialists. 
If Vitalists cannot hold this ground, the whole field 
must be surrendered. It is nonsense to call Life a 

force without identifying its antithetic cause. Life, 
5 



66 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

in itself, is either a something having forces of its 
own, or it is a mere affection of Matter. If vital 
phenomena are the products of organization, then 
Matter can organize itself, and Life must vanish with 
the destruction of the organism. But we have posi- 
tive proof that Life, as a germ, exists previously to 
the beginning of the organic structure ; that it main- 
tains, unchanged, its character in the structure, and 
affords us phenomenal results, as in reproduction, 
which can spring only from itself, the Substantive 
cause. At the same time we freely admit that, away 
from consciousness and outside of organic bodies, the 
vital world is a land of shadows and of darkness 
itself. But the same admission must be made in 
regard to the essence, form, and size, and content of 
the individual atoms of Matter. In organisms the 
two substances — Matter and Life — are conjoined ; the 
correlation of their forces maintains the law of con- 
tinuity, and each develops and manifests the wonder- 
ful properties of the other as well as its own. 

The unlimited number and variety of organic 
structures indicate the existence of an equal num- 
ber and variety of Vital Substances, graded all the 
way down from human life to the organic cell. 
Through and by Consciousness we know our own 
living Self, all other creatures and living things by 
their phenomena. 

With these preliminary suggestions let us enter the 
sanctuary of the vital world, and note the work and 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 67 

the changes which transpire in this department of 
Nature. The forest oak is but an outward and vis- 
ible expression of the Life which once, in a latent 
state, existed in the acorn from which it grew. That 
giant tree is not simply a mass of matter, inasmuch 
as its substance has been cunningly wrought into 
structural forms of amazing complexity. The potency 
which gave the tree its peculiar internal texture and 
outward appearance must have existed in the acorn 
from which it sprung. Of about the same age and 
size, and standing by its side, growing out of the same 
ground, subject to the same influences of climate and 
seasons, and nourished by the same aliment, stands a 
chestnut-tree ; and yet how widely the two organisms 
differ from each other ! For this difference Reason, of 
right, demands a sufficient and a patent cause. What 
was the working agent which made the oak what it 
is, and rendered it impossible that it should be any 
thing else ? And what was the other agent which 
made the chestnut to differ from it in fiber, structure, 
and form, and be what it is ? We are without proof, 
that in either the acorn or chestnut seed a typical 
miniature tree existed, and that the growth of the 
tree was but a development of this primal organism ; 
but even if such w T ere the case, what agent differen- 
tiated the primal organisms ? " Insoluble mystery ! " 
cries Prof. Tyndall ; as if our knowledge was rigor- 
ously limited to mechanical deductions ; as if we 
could know a flower only by analyzing it, or a man 



68 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

only by dissecting his body? May not a world of 
palpable facts — facts which Matter and Mechanics 
cannot account for — teach us something in regard to 
their own origin and nature 1 To the unbiased mind 
the truth is as clear and certain as a mathematical 
axiom, that the Life of the acorn was the cause which 
gave to the oak its peculiar structure, and that the 
chestnut-seed possessed a potency of its own of a dif- 
ferent kind, which spun and wove in a different way 
the material atoms and molecules which enter into 
the composition of the chestnut-tree. 

On this subject Nature's vast volume seems to be 
ever open, and on every page the same lesson is 
repeated and illustrated ; and we can never surrender 
this argument till it is demonstrated that between ap- 
parent and real Nature there is no resemblance, and 
that on its face there is no truth. Materialists will 
not claim that the most searching examination of the 
roots, trunk, branches, buds, blossoms, and seeds of 
the oak and chestnut will explain either the facts 
of their existence or the why of their differing one 
from the other. The environments of the trees being 
alike tend to make the trees alike, and explain noth- 
ing in regard to their unlikeness. We now face a 
series of pregnant facts whose range is as wide as the 
vegetable and animal kingdoms, and what do they 
signify ? If Nature can speak in tones that man can 
understand, she commands and compels us to see 
in an organic body the presence and agency of a 



Vital Elements as Basis of Oeganisms. 69 

peculiar Yital Substance whose superior potency con- 
trols and co-ordinates the forces of the sun, of the 
atmosphere, of the ground, the rains and the dews, 
and brings them into harmony with its own demands. 

The oak, phenomenally, is an illustration of the 
nature and properties of the vital germ contained in 
the acorn. So of the chestnut, and so of all struct- 
ures which go to make up the organic world. The 
matter of the oak and chestnut when in the ground, 
or floating in the air, was exactly alike, and it expe- 
rienced no change by being wrought into these organ- 
isms ; and the only difference which exists between 
the standing trees and the ground, and between each 
other, has been eifected by their respective vital Sub- 
stances. A live elephant differs from the ground, 
and from a canary bird, because its huge coarseness 
is the necessary expression of its peculiar Life. A 
hen could as easily create a universe of suns and stars 
as hatch a chick from the egg of a duck, and for the 
reason that its vital part, as the controlling factor in 
the case, is wholly beyond her reach. 

These truths lie so completely on the surface of 
Nature, that even if not self-evident, their inherent 
validity must command assent ; nor can they be ob- 
scured even by the pedantic verbiage of Spencer's 
Evolution theory. If even a savage desires to raise a 
corn plant he would plant the corn seed, because he 
knows that this seed, and no other, can produce this 
kind of grain, and that it can produce nothing else. 



70 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Of the complex processess involved in the growth 
of the plant, he may know nothing ; and how much 
does the scientist know ? but of the facts in the case 
he can have but one opinion. To this extent the 
savage is, practically, the profound philosopher. 

§ 3. Facts Materialism fails to Explain. 

Our sympathies are excited as we read the follow- 
ing despairing words, uttered by Dr. Tyndall : 

" Considered fundamentally, then, it is by the op- 
eration of an insoluble mystery that Life on earth is 
evolved, species differentiated, and Mind unfolded 
from their prepotent elements, in the inconceivable 
past." * 

What does Mr. Tyndall mean by " elements ? " In 
many places, and with great emphasis, he teaches 
that there is but one Substance, and that that Sub- 
stance is Matter. By " elements," then, he can mean 
only the atomic elements of Matter. The idea that 
Mind has been unfolded from such a source not being 
proved to be a fact, need not be reckoned a mystery. 
The ground covered by the word " mystery," as used 
by Mr. Tyndall, embraces about all we care to know 
of this world and of this life. 

Why are Life and Mind and differentiated species, 

on earth, such " insoluble mysteries " to this great 

philosopher ? We answer : He refuses to admit the 

agency and the operation of vital and mental causes, 

* Belfast Address. 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 71 

as such an admission would crush out of existence the 
substance and soul of the New Philosophy. The 
world he speculates upon is wholly Matter ; it has no 
creator, no thought, no life, no design, no moral qual- 
ities, no responsibility — it is nothing more than a 
clod. It is not to be expected from such a premise 
that any but the most meager and beggarly conclusions 
could follow ; and a philosophy of nature which is 
unable to touch " fundamentally " the organic world, 
or the human Intelligence, can explain but little that 
is worth knowing. 

The sixty-odd known elements of Matter, in their 
endless combinations, can teach us nothing of the 
origin of things, nothing of vital or mental phenom- 
ena, and Mr. Tyndall refuses to acknowledge the 
existence of other instructors ; as a consequence, he 
finds himself shrouded in mysteries and confounded 
by them. If his materialistic philosophy required it, 
he would probably deny that the sun is the cause of 
light, and then, as a consequence, the illumination 
of the world would be an " insoluble mystery." As 
we cannot see the atmosphere we may deny its exist- 
ence, and then the floating of clouds above our heads 
will be an " insoluble mystery ! " I see the pistol 
aimed at a man's head ; I see the flash of its powder ; 
I hear a sharp report ; I see that the man, who stood 
but a few inches from the pistol's muzzle, falls dead ; 
on examination I find that some substance — some 
active, powerful agent — has torn its way through his 



72 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

bruin. A fellow by stander remarks that the man was 
killed by the pistol's shot ; I deny it, for I can find 
no bullet in the brain. He replies : " But you see 
its damaging effects upon the skull bone and on the 
brain matter." I answer : " I only see the phenom- 
ena — the cause I do not see and do not know. With 
some impatience at my apparent stolidity my friend 
then energetically inquires : " If not the bullet, what 
did cause the man's death ? " I answer : " It is an 
' insoluble mystery.' " 

A man in the mood for it, by trying a little, may 
surround himself with mysteries ad infinitum. The 
organizing effects of vital elements in the structure of 
the oak, the eagle, the lion, and man, are as marked 
and as patent to our senses as the disorganizing effects 
of the supposed deadly bullet in the brain of the man. 
If we have a right to infer the bullet from its effects 
— and this is what sworn jurymen do in murder tri- 
als — we have as clear a right to infer vital substances 
from their effects. 

I am aware that it may be replied that the bullet 
was known by itself, separate from its effects, before 
the pistol was fired, whereas Life is never known 
only in connection with a material organism ; but 
that fact does not affect the argument, which is based 
upon the axiom, that every effect must have a cause, 
and a cause adequate to produce the effect. Prof. 
Tyndall may find shelter in "mystery" or ignorance, 
but the clear and independent thinker must believe, 



Yital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 73 

either that Matter has for its dowry consciousness, 
thought, will, and feeling, or that the man proper is 
a spirit-intelligence, having only a structural kinship 
with Matter. The first supposition Mr. Tyndall ad- 
mits is " inconceivable ; " the latter, then, is forced 
upon our acceptance as true. The facts of " Life on 
earth," " differentiated species " existing, and " Mind 
unfolded," " insoluble mysteries ! " What a con- 
fession to be made amid the blazing light of this 
scientific age ! If all these things are mysteries, what 
do we know ? In what consists the boasted achieve- 
ments of science ! 

Is it not a useless and a wretched tantalizing phi- 
losophy which leaves unsolved the origin and relations 
of every thing on earth which impresses us with its 
wisdom, grandeur, beauty, and goodness? And yet 
these philosophers look for applause when, with the 
pomp of metaphor, learning, and logic, they assure 
us that in capacity and destiny we are neither more 
nor less than the ground on which we tread ! 

§ 4. Different Gi % ades of Life. 

A closer inspection of the vital world enables us to 
distinguish : 

1. The simple Vital Principle. 

2. A Vital Capacity. 

3. A Vital Entity. 

4. Different kinds and orders of Life. 

5. Mind, a living substance, yet it is more than a 



74 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Life, for it is conscious ; it thinks, wills, and feels, 
and must receive a special and separate considera- 
tion. 

In the vegetable kingdom the simple vital prin- 
ciple is met with in the pollen and pistil of the plant, 
and in the animal kingdom, in the ova and sperma- 
tozoa of the sexes. These are the fertilizers and the 
fertilized, and the product is a vital unit. 

The one sexual vital principle is correlated to the 
other in the same species and order of being, and an 
endless reproduction, with but slight variations from 
the original, may be the result. In these substances 
we meet a something which is not a property of Mat- 
ter ; it cannot be produced artificially, and its nature 
and existence are among the profoundest secrets of 
nature. It is the point — nature's inner " sanctuary " 
— the holy of holies — where the vital and material 
first come into active contact resulting in develop- 
ment. 

Bioplasm and millions of the lowest forms of exist- 
ence must be classed as vital organisms, but in which 
a complete vital unit has not and never can be indi- 
vidualized. The bioplasm scattered throughout our 
body is vitalized Matter, but these living specks can- 
not be developed into a man nor into any thing else. 
Their vital principle has no correlate in some other 
vital principle, and their mode of multiplication is 
by self-division. Evolution cannot lift these forms 
of existence into a higher life, for the reason that 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 75 

there is nothing in them to be evolved. Their nature 
and powers are fully developed in their low estate. 

As instances of the development of vital Entities, 
from the union of antecedent vital agencies, we may 
refer to the clearly defined specimens of the vegetable 
and animal kingdoms which propagate their kind by 
generation. 

A vital capacity is subject to any one of many 
forms of development, dependent upon the character 
of its co-operant and environments. The extreme 
limit to which this variation can be carried is the 
production of a hybrid, or something imperfect or 
monstrous. As it is the Life which, fundamentally, 
constitutes the Thing or Being, its entity must be 
sought for in the vital part, not in the organism, for 
that is but as a passing shadow. A hybrid is not a 
unit, nor a complete any thing in nature. A mule is 
an organism, a living thing, but it does not possess a 
complete life of any kind. That which gives char- 
acter to species — a perfect Life of some kind — is 
wanting, and hence the mule, as a species or order 
of being, cannot be propagated. Keproduction is 
impossible, as there is no Life Entity to be trans- 
mitted or propagated.* Mr. Spencer says : f " Some- 
thing seems to be gained by restricting the application 
of the title individual to organisms, which, being in 

* " There is no certain evidence of offspring ever having been pro- 
duced by a male and female mule." — Huxley. 
f Biology, p. 205. 



76 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

all respects fully developed, possess the power of pro- 
ducing their kind, after the ordinary sexual method, 
and denying this title to those incomplete organisms 
which have not this power." I quote the above from 
Mr. Spencer with satisfaction, for in this connection 
he concedes the great truth that it is the " manifesta- 
tion of Life" which "individualizes." 

Mongrels are not, therefore, to be regarded as indi- 
viduals of any kind or order ; they are not pure parts 
of Nature, but perversions of it ; they are crudities, 
without character, and incapable of rectification ; 
essentially deficient, abhorred of Nature, and cast off 
with the stern decree that their existence shall not be 
continued. An outrage has been perpetrated upon 
the vital world,, and from its revenges there is no 
appeal or escape. 

A new substance, whether material or vital, cannot 
be produced or originated either artificially or by any 
of the processes of Nature. In the vital world the 
Life which God has created can be indefinitely mul- 
tiplied, and within certain limits its forces modified ; 
but the origination of a new substance or Life as the 
basis of a new species, as the pyramidal myth of Mr. 
Darwin teaches, is the monster abortion of the " New 
Philosophy." 

When correlated vital principles have united and 
become individualized in an organism as a Life, 
further modification is impossible, except as its devel- 
opment may be affected by its environments. An 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 77 

acorn from a tropical forest, planted in a cold, barren 
soil, will experience a stunted growth, yet it will de- 
velop an oak, if any thing. A loss of life would be 
the loss of its being. The vital essence of the acorn 
produced will not be changed by the effects which 
the environments may have upon the growth of the 
tree. 

§ 5. TJie Permanency of Vital Elements. 

An apparent modification of species may be pro- 
duced by a change of climate and other agencies, such 
as scarcity or abundance of food, and marked varieties 
will be the result ; but an instance was never known 
when one kind of Life became another kind, either 
gradually or abruptly. Stability in elements and vari- 
ety in combinations, and not a steadily advancing evo- 
lution — one thing ceasing to be, and another coming 
into existence — have ever characterized the opera- 
tions of Nature. No one element, whether material, 
vital, abstract, or scientific, was ever changed into 
another. The universe that is, is fundamentally the 
universe that was. The persistent unchangeableness 
of elemental substances and principles makes it im- 
possible that this ever-changing world should return 
to chaos ; and none but the Creator can take from 
Substance the essence he gave it, or change its forces. 

I wish to repeat, that one kind of Life can never 
become another life of another kind. If this is 
so (and we defy proof to the contrary), then the 
key-stone of the arch of the Darwinian Philosophy 



78 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

falls, and Mr. Spencer's vaunted theory of Evolution 
goes down with it. We are as destitute of proof that 
one kind of life was ever evolved from a different 
kind, as that iron was ever derived from gold, or 
gold from iron, or that oxygen ever became copper 
or copper oxygen. Matter is indestructible, so is 
every essence, and the idea of changing any one sim- 
ple substance into another implies both the creation 
and the annihilation of substance. 

We know that we are dealing with verities, and 
that the ceaseless (manges which have agitated the 
matter of the globe during the past ages do not reg- 
ister an instance of the radical changes which the 
Evolution theory supposes to be constantly taking 
place. Prof. B. P. Bowne says:* "Without the law 
of chemical equivalence and proportion, Nature would 
be an irredeemable chaos. With it, through all the 
myriad changes which force is constantly working, 
the same chemical compounds remain. If they are 
resolved into their elements they return to the orig- 
inal combination, instead of forming new and strange 
compounds." 

Prof. Bowne quotes from Faraday as follows : 
"There are different elements with the most manifold 
powers and the most opposed tendencies. Some are 
so lazy and inert, that a superficial observer would 
take them for nothing in the grand resultant of 
powers ; and others, on the contrary, possess such vio- 
,* "Review of Spencer," p. 225. 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 79 

lent properties that they seem to threaten the stability 
of the universe. But upon a deeper examination of 
the same, and a consideration of the role they play, 
one finds that they agree with one another in a great 
scheme of harmonic adaptation. The power of no 
single element could be changed without at once de- 
stroying the harmonious balance, and plunging the 
world into ruin." 

If the stability of the fundamental elements of 
Matter, even the least active and least numerous, are 
necessary to the continuance of the physical world, 
how much more important is it that the permanence 
of law and order should reign in the vital world ? 
The will of the Creator that the universe He made 
should continue, may be seen in the fact that the 
mixing of different species, creating thereby a new 
species, he has rendered an impossibility. Persistent 
stability of vital nnits, subject to modified degrees and 
forms of development, is the universal order of Nature. 

The animals of the far-off Geological ages did not, 
with the change of environments, take on new forms, 
by "natural selection" or " the survival of the fit- 
test," but they perished outright and others appeared 
in their places. The Geologic record does not contain 
a hint that the horse — Huxley and Biichner to the 
contrary notwithstanding — the ox, the dog, other ani- 
mals, and man, were ever, in their vital essence or 
organism, radically different from what they now are. 
Living things may degenerate till they go out of 



80 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

existence, but they never degenerate into other kinds 
of being. Possibly an orange-tree, in time, might 
be made to endure the rigors of a northern winter, 
but, if so, it would remain an orange still ; if it 
perished, it would perish an orange. In the far 
South the apple-tree is of no value as a fruit tree ; it 
realizes but a spindling, reed -like growth ; still, in 
every leaf and fiber it is an apple-tree, and neither 
through its seeds nor otherwise does it show any 
tendency to become another species of tree. 

The Fuegians, found in the caves among the rocks 
and in the snows of their inhospitable island, are 
among the most degraded of human beings. Proba- 
bly the fortunes of war, long ago compelled them to 
flee to that desolate land as a place of refuge from 
relentless enemies. We have evidence that their 
degradation has not been so long continued that it 
has become fixed and permanent, and that under fa- 
vorable circumstances a reaction at once takes place. 
It is not so with the natives of Australia nor with the 
American Indians ; they seem to be far along on the 
down-hill grade to utter extinction, except as their 
blood becomes mixed with other races. But whether 
rising or falling, humanity gives forth no sign of 
transformation into any thing else. If the Fuegians 
become extinct, the last one will die as a man. 

If man came up from a monkey, or through a 
monkey line of ancestors, is it not probable that in 
his extreme degradation he would retreat back along 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 81 

the same channel, and, at a certain stage of deteriora- 
tion, manifest in his conduct monkey characteristics? 
What would not Darwin have given for such a fact 
to confirm his theory! But the truth is, that though 
he may become as savage and beastly as the orang- 
outang, and nearly as ignorant, he never exhibits the 
slightest trace of kinship with that animal more than 
with any other. In the process of degeneration he is 
as likely to fall into the line of character possessed by 
the dog, or wolf, or squirrel, as that of any division 
of the Simian family. But he does not deviate from 
his proper humanity in any direction, and if he per- 
ishes because of deterioration he perishes as man. 

The Troglodytes, or Cave-Dwellers of France and. 
England, have, probably, because of extremely unfa- 
vorable environments, long since ceased to exist ; but 
the last one that perished was as much a man — as 
fully human — as any man living to-day. They were 
probably the scattered fragments of a powerful peo- 
ple, perhaps of noble ancestry, whom the fortunes of 
war had driven to distant homes, or to hiding-places 
for safety. It- is a law, that as a means of prosperity 
each member of a community should enjoy the com- 
mon national blessings ; and the isolation of a family 
or a tribe from the body politic is sure to result in 
deterioration, if not in utter extinction. Thus man 
may be exalted, or he may be degraded, or he may 
die ; but such is the changeless nature of his vital 
essence that he can be nothing but man. 



82 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

A trained monkey is all the more a monkey for 
being trained. Man-apes, so called, by the association 
of years with human beings, receiving in the mean- 
time much care and attention, have learned many 
things, and have really advanced in the scale of intelli- 
gence, but not a cord or spring of humanity has ever 
thus been touched in their nature. The greater the 
elevation of the monkey the further his deviation 
from humanity ; and in all his imitations of man's 
acts nothing is so conspicuous in the monkey as the 
monkey method of doing things. The monkey de- 
velops along one line, the man along another ; and the 
different lines are never so near together, nor so much 
alike, as at the beginning. Could we detect a trace 
of the, human in the trained monkey, or a trace of 
the monkey in the degraded man, there would be 
some ground for inferring a remote kinship between 
them. The analogy which exists between their phys- 
ical structures is of secondary importance, if of any, 
inasmuch as the individuality of these and all other 
creatures is found only in their Vital nature. 

This great and overshadowing fact Mr. Darwin 
fails to consider; hence the deductions he makes from 
his vast collection of facts are vitiated by the absence 
of this, their primal factor. As if Matter, which 
never betrays the least tendency to work itself into 
an organic body, caused the difference between the 
horse and the elephant, the atoms choosing to arrange 
themselves in a specific form in the one organism 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. S3 

rather than in another form in the other organism ! 
Since the initiating and controlling power of the or- 
ganism is indisputably in the Life, to which the forces 
of matter are subject, the philosophy which limits its 
deductions to atoms and mechanical force is essen- 
tially deficient in its basal facts, and its conclusions 
are worthless. There is something more sublime in 
the germ of the acorn — a fact and an idea of a higher 
order — than in the brightest star that shines. Its 
vital power overcomes the law of attraction, and lifts 
the oak's huge trunk, weighing some tons, up among 
the clouds, and so firmly spins its atoms into threads 
and fibers that it resists the storms of a thousand years. 
So persistent are vital elements that the existing 
plants and animals are now substantially what they 
were thousands of years ago, and there can be no 
doubt that thousands of years hence they will be 
about what they now are, or cease to exist. Some 
species have served their period, become useless, and 
passed away ; but that fact only proves that the de- 
struction of worthless species, not the evolving of 
them into something else, or of something else out 
of them, or the formation of new species by the "sur- 
vival of the fittest," is the order of Nature. The 
sudden and universal destruction of the mastodon, 
soon after the appearance of man, appa^ntly illus- 
trates the facts above stated.* 

* The Rev. Prof. Sedgwick says: " The fossils demonstrate the time 
to be long, though we cannot say how long. Every thing indicates a 



84 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

§ 6. Mr. Darwin's Theism. 

Mr. Darwin saves himself from trie charge of 
Atheism by quoting approvingly the language of a 
celebrated divine, who " had gradually learned to see 
that it was just as noble a conception of the Deity to 
believe he created a few original forms capable of 
self -development into other and modified forms, as to 
believe he required a fresh act of creation to supply 
the voids caused by the action of his law, and that 
the living forms of to-day are but variations of the 
originals." 

Mr. Darwin was supremely lucky in adopting the 
above quotation as his own, as it filled an immense 
gap which, otherwise, would have yawned between 
his philosophy and the Christian world. As a tub 
thrown to the whale, it has had its intended effect, 
and redeemed his philosophy from Atheism, and 
almost made it Orthodox. Though this great nat- 
uralist is accepted by the Atheists of Germany and 
Britain as very high authority, we are not anxious to 
part company with him, and we will cling to him as a 

very long and very slow progression — one creation flourishing and 
performing its part, and gradually dying off as if it had performed its 
part, and another actual creation of new beings, not derived as prog- 
eny from the farmer, gradually taking its place," etc. 

The Duke ir Argyle says: "History, as Geology has revealed it, 
has been a h. ^ry of successive creations and of successive destruc- 
tions, old forms of Life perishing and new forms appearing; so that 
the whole face of Nature has been many times renewed." — Primeval 
Man, p. 113. 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 85 

Theist since he ever adhered to the above quotation, 
and we think all the more of him because Tyndall's 
effort to induce him to back down was a failure. 

But if what we have said of the vital elements of 
nature, as the builders of organic bodies, corresponds 
with the facts of observation, then his " natural selec- 
tion" theory of the "origin of species" must be con- 
fined to the variations that take place within wide but 
specific limits. His theory of the " origin of species " 
must be ruled outside the pale of fact and sound phi- 
losophy, and for the reason that it wholly ignores the 
sole cause of the existence of any organic body ; also, 
it overlooks the fundamental and only reason why 
one organism differs radically from another. 

Probably no man living is better qualified to judge 
of the merits of Mr. Darwin's philosophy than Prof. 
Huxley. Such are his mental aptitudes, his great 
ability, his thorough knowledge of the subject, and 
his strong bias in Darwin's favor, that his judgment 
formally expressed on this subject is of great value. 
The case now stands not as strong as it did when his 
"Origin of Species" was given to the world, as no 
gaps have been closed up, no missing links supplied ; 
but rather, new gaps have been opened, and the whole 
superstructure badly shaken since then, as Darwin 
himself admits. Mr. Huxley says : "After much con- 
sideration, and with assuredly no bias against Mr. 
Darwin's views, it is our clear conviction that, as the 
evidence stands, it is not absolutely proven that a 



86 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

group of animals, having all the characters exhibited 
by species in Nature, has ever been originated by 
selection, whether artificial or natural."* 

One step, and only one, in the production of a new- 
species can be taken ; the process is then arrested, for 
which but one cause can be given — an individual Life- 
principle is wanting in the hybrid, and there is noth- 
ing to be propagated. A new vital species, as well as 
a new material element, can be produced only by the 
Word of an Infinite Power. 

Had Mr. Darwin, in generalizing upon his vast 
accumulation of facts, been content to build up a 
system of forms and variations, his success would 
have been complete and unquestioned. Huxley says 
again : " Groups having the morphological character 
of species, distinct and permanent races in fact, have 
been so produced" (by selection breeding) "over and 
over again ; but there is no positive evidence at pres- 
ent that any group of animals has, by variation and 
selection breeding, given rise to another group which 
was, even in the least degree, infertile in the first. 

But are vital phenomena of such a character that 
they prove, beyond a peradventure, that Life controls 
the structure of the organism ? Of this we must 
judge, each for himself, in full view of all the facts in 
the case. On any other ground it is impossible to ac- 
count for the fact that the same kind of Life-force is 
attended invariably with the same results. We have 

* " Lay Sermons," English edition, p. 294. 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 87 

no evidence that Matter exerts any influence in de- 
ciding what the character of the organism shall be. 
Food is indifferent to the kind of animals that con- 
sume it. 

§ 7. The profound Secret of Life. 

Of the essence of either Life or Matter we know 
nothing. A veil has been thrown over these inner- 
most secrets of Nature, and we are permitted to enter 
only its outer courts. We are not authorized to 
assume that an unknown essence is common to all 
Matter, which is not manifest in its properties, and 
assert that it causes vital phenomena ; for we might 
as well say that such essence is a separate, though ac- 
companying, vital substance. Before this controversy 
ends Materialists will be driven from the field, or 
compelled to assume that a latent vital force is com- 
mon to all Matter, as attraction is, and that this Life- 
quality manifests its phenomena only in a certain 
conjunction of circumstances. Had Tyndall this idea 
in view when he exclaimed, " Let us radically change 
our notions of Matter?" The Matter of the pollen 
and the pistil, of the ova and the spermatozoa, ib very 
ordinary Matter, and it may exist in proper propor- 
tions and yet be destitute of the vital principle or 
capacity. This principle, then, is not inherent in 
either the atoms or the mass of matter when arti- 
ficially collected. 

At present we know nothing of Life, except as its 
nature is revealed in its phenomena, nor any thing of 



88 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Matter aside from its properties as revealed to us. 
We subject both to the tests of observation and ex- 
periment, and they tell us all we can know of their 
secrets. Vitality exhibits in our presence its phe- 
nomena, and from these visible displays of its powers, 
infinite in number, we must judge of its hidden self. 
Nothing outside of these limits can be put into this 
argument. 

Vital phenomena are as uniform in character, and 
as clearly defined, and of a far higher order than 
material phenomena. A clod, a stone, a crystal, are 
a great way below the rose, the bird, the man. 

Grain lias been recovered from the sarcophagi in 
which the embalmed dead of Egypt had been en- 
tombed some three or four thousand years, and its 
vitality was at once suggested. Has the vital prin- 
ciple survived the ages? No one supposed that chem- 
istry or microscopy could answer the question. The 
seeds were planted in the ground, and thus subjected 
to the appropriate test of their vitality. The appear- 
ance of vital phenomena demonstrated the presence 
of the vital element. The interesting fact was estab- 
lished that vital elements may remain dormant for 
ages, ready at any moment to improve a suitable 
occasion for developing their powers. 

Every thing that grows has its stages of develop- 
ment. Through how many periods a fully developed 
seed of any kind has passed it is impossible for us to 
know, but there may have been a wide gap between 



Vital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 89 

its germinal form and the full maturity of the seed. 
We are willing to admit that long ages have passed 
away since the earth began to teem with life ; also, 
that man's history is comparatively of modern date. 
As the hypothesis of spontaneous generation is re- 
jected by scientists, including those who are the most 
anxious that it should be true, we need not refer to it 
here except to characterize it as an absurd hypothesis. 
Its basal idea is, that something comes from some- 
thing else unlike itself — that every thing that lives 
may have had no antecedent life, that is, may date 
back to a time when there was no life. It is evolution 
without involution, deduction without induction, and 
effect without a cause. 

§ 8. A Created Vital World. 

The idea of separate creations at different dates, 
those dates in some instances ages apart, seems to 
give a shock to the reason of Darwin, Spencer, and 
others whom they have taught so to regard it. Well, 
then is the lrypothesis equally shocking to reason, 
that in the beginning, or at the time when, as is con- 
ceded, some four or five living forms were created 
by the Supreme Being, that the land and water and 
air were impregnated with inflnitesimally small vital- 
ized germs in the lower stages of existence, and that 
each has had to wait its appointed time when earth's 
changes would bring about a proper medium for its 
development ? May not the inorganic globe be a sar- 



90 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

cophagus, stored with Life-elements, each one wait- 
ing its appointed hour to come forth ? The Word 
which gave existence to four or five life-forms could 
as well at the same time have made the number 
millions. The vital germ of a kernel of corn, at a 
low stage of its existence, may have lain in the womb 
of Nature for ages before it found a visible expres- 
sion in an organic structure. The centers cannot be 
found from which vegetables and animals have spread 
over the globe, and always and every-where, so far as 
we know, they have been attendants upon a suitable 
soil and climate. To explain this fact, so as to bring 
it into harmony with his hypothesis of diffusions from 
a few centers, Darwin lays out all his great strength ; 
but his mighty eloquence must not be allowed to 
pass for the real order of Nature. The means for the 
diffusion of seeds which he assigns afford not an 
adequate explanation of the fact. It seems more 
reasonable to adopt the hypothesis that, in the ac- 
knowledged act of creation, the Almighty enriched 
all parts of the globe with the same vital elements. 

As we cannot close our eyes to the fact that differ- 
entiated vital organisms, animal and vegetable, exist in 
great variety and vast numbers, the irresistible deduc- 
tion must be made that this is primarily a vital world, 
composed of distinct and different vital elements, and 
that these organisms are but an expression of their 
nature and power. As God is a living being, why 
should he not have created a vital universe, reflecting 



Yital Elements as Basis of Organisms. 91 

bis own image? "lie that created the ear, shall he 
not hear ?" The faith which embraces God as a vital 
existence can, without further effort, embrace a vital 
universe. If there is a personal God who is Spirit, 
and not Matter, and if that Being has structure, con- 
tent, and attributes, every other living existence, ac- 
cording to its grade and capacity, may possess these 
properties. 

We can as fully believe in the vitality of a flower 
or of a bird as our own. If this universe is not all 
Matter — if even a God exist — we are compelled by 
an " intellectual necessity," as we look upon the or- 
ganic world, to believe that it, as created, was made 
to swarm with innumerable kinds and forms of Life. 

Matter was made, not for itself, but to serve as 
stock in hand for the structure of organic bodies. 
Matter is a world by itself, Vitality is another world 
by itself. In Yital phenomena, by the use of Matter, 
we see the Yital world break through and invade the 
material. Each serves to reveal the highest qualities 
of the other. 



92 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTEE III. 

VITAL PHENOMENA CONTRASTED WITH THE FORCES OF 

MATTER. 

" Physical conditions do not lead to the filial explanation of all we 
feel and know." — Pkof. Tyndall. 

§ 1. Matter and its Forces Unchangeable. 

ACCORDING to the definition of the atom, given 
in chapter first, all kinds of Matter, through all 
possible unions and combinations, whether in passing 
from one inorganic mass to another, or from the mass 
to an organism, must ever remain the same unchang- 
ing essence or substance ; consequently, the inherent 
properties of Matter must ever abide in it. The forces 
of different elements, by mixture and combination, 
may be neutralized, intensified, and modified in ten 
thousand ways, yet in essence the atoms are in no 
way implicated. Each atom of every kind of Matter 
is to-day exactly what it was millions of years ago, 
when whirling in space as fire-mist. Iron may be 
cold or hot, in a magnetic state or otherwise ; it may 
be pure or mixed with other substances; it may form 
a horseshoe or a portion of our blood, but in every 
condition it is always iron. 

Every new relation of any atom brings upon itself 
and upon the mass of which it forms a part new in- 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 93 

fluences, and develops other forces. Oxygen and 
hydrogen, when united in the compound water, ap- 
parently lose all their individual properties and form 
a new substance, and the forces of the two elements 
seem to have annihilated each other. In the oil of 
vitriol not a trace of oxygen or sulphur or hydrogen, 
per se, can be detected, yet nothing but these ele- 
ments are in that substance. To prove that the ele- 
mental atoms, per se, are the same unchangeable sub- 
stances, we have only to break up the compounds into 
their constituent elements. Thus iron, oxygen, nitro- 
gen, gold, carbon, and all other elemental atoms, may 
have experienced millions of different combinations, 
extending through all the ages of the past, yet not 
an atom has been changed or lost, nor a new force 
originated. The original atom can at any time be 
recalled from any combination unchanged, because 
unchangeable. 

The revelations which the spectroscope has made 
within the past few years of the constituent elements 
of other worlds — -planets, stars, and suns — have em- 
phasized the importance of the atomic conception 
of Matter. In the heavens, by the light reflected 
from atoms, stars are revealed to our vision, so incon- 
ceivably distant from each other that no form of 
Matter can ever have passed from the one to the 
other ; and yet the light that proclaims the existence 
of these stars, tells us that they are composed of the 
same kinds of atoms as form this globe. Atoms of 



94 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen perform tlieir vibra- 
tions on earth, in planets, and in stars in the same 
time. 

If, then, in the history of the material universe no 
atoms are created — if such as we have are unchangea- 
ble and indestructible — they must exist beyond the 
reach of all theories of evolution. What process of 
nature could have brought into being, or manufact- 
ured from pre-existing matter, the unnumbered 
atoms of oxygen, each one inconceivably small, and 
yet in volume constituting half the globe, and per- 
haps half the matter of all the worlds that exist, and 
made them exactly alike ? The same question might 
be asked in regard to all the other elements, and in 
each case the answer must be : Such process must lie 
outside of all the known operations of existing nature. 

These considerations shut us up to the conviction 
that there must have been a creation, and that these 
things are so because the Creator thus ordained. In- 
destructibility was given to substance — to all being 
— in that it is impossible for a Something to make 
itself nothing. Catastrophes have occurred in the 
heavens ; sun storms are the fiercest the eye can wit- 
ness ; stars have suddenly increased in brilliancy, 
then waned, and finally disappeared ; comets have 
been broken into fragments, and the parts dissipated 
in space ; and should it be that in the course of ages, 
in some supreme catastrophe, stars, suns, planets, and 
comets be made to mingle in a common mass, con- 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 95 

centrating all the forces of nature in a single storm, 
and should the fury of the elements continue without 
any abatement for ages, not the slightest change 
would take place in the number, essence, nature, 
measure, or weight of the atoms. They constitute 
the basal timbers of the universe, and what God has 
created is not self-destructive ; but out of the ruins of 
one structure or system another may arise of a higher 
order and greater perfection. Charcoal substance, 
crystallized, becomes the diamond ; common clay, 
crystallized, gives us the ruby, and similar changes 
may await the recombination of all the Matter of the 
universe. 

The properties, forces, and laws of the atoms are a 
true, and the only possible, expression of the nature 
of their essence. Each atom is a self-centered cause, 
and its forces proclaim incessantly the laws given to 
it by the Infinite One. As these laws arise from the 
essence of the atoms, they are as unchangeable and 
unrepealable as the substance is indestructible. Each 
atom is an incarnation of a force and a law which are 
ever expressions of the Divine Will. 

§ 2. Organic and Inorganic Matter the same. 

Organic Matter is any kind of Matter which has 
been wrought into a vital structure, animal or vegeta- 
ble. Crystal and mechanical structures are not organ- 
isms. An organism is a vital unit. 

Organic Matter is often referred to, even by scien- 



96 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

tists, with an emphasis, as, " carefully prepared " or 
" richly endowed " matter, which indicates that they 
regard it as extraordinary matter. George H. Lewes 
avoids this mistake. He says: " All the fundamental 
properties of Matter are recognizable in organized 
Matter. The elementary substances and forces fa- 
miliar to the physicist and chemist are the materials 
of the biologist, nor has there been found a single or- 
ganic substance, however special, that is not reducible 
to inorganic elements. ... If we can decompose the 
organic into the inorganic this shows that the ele- 
ments of the one are the elements of the other.* 

Chemically considered, then, there is no difference 
between the matter of the human body and an equal 
amount by weight of earth taken from a swamp or 
a corn-lield. The carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitro- 
gen, iron, and sulphur of the two masses are exactly 
alike. What, then, constitutes the essential difference 
between a Demosthenes delivering an oration, who 
weighs, say, two hundred pounds, and an equal quan- 
tity by weight of common earth ? We answer : A 
Life-substance has wrought the Matter of the one mass 
into a human organism, with which a Mind is asso- 
ciated, and through this organism it manifests its own 
properties, forces, and phenomena. Take the Life 
from this bod}'" and its Matter will quickly return to 
its normal state, or enter other organisms. The pres- 
ence of the Life and Mind in the one mass and not in 

* "Physical Basis of Mind," p. 12. 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 97 

the other constitutes the essential difference between 
the orator and the common clod. Material proper- 
ties and forces only abide in the one, Life pervades 
the other, and to its peculiar and supreme sway the 
material forces of the mass are subordinated. 

Matter carries into organisms only the forces 
and properties it possessed outside of them. A 
purely new basal force cannot be created. The 
forces of material nature are persistent because their 
base is unchangeable. A force, therefore, not found 
in inorganic Matter, but associated with organic Mat- 
ter, must have a Non-material cause. The substance 
and forces of water had fundamentally a previous ex- 
istence in the elements oxygen and hydrogen. The 
forces of different kinds of Matter may, by union or 
mixture, modify each other for the moment ; but a 
new force cannot be created nor an existing one de- 
stroyed. All the material forces of nature spring 
necessarily from the elemental atoms ; any force 
which cannot be referred to that basis is foreign to 
Matter. In each atom inheres certain specific forces 
which all the elements of the universe of a different 
kind cannot produce. 

No kind of Matter is admitted to an organism, to 
form a part of it, whose forces are not correlated to 
its Life. Uncorrelated Matter destroys the Life or is 
cast off by it. 

It is a grave mistake, often committed, to ascribe 

to Matter properties and forces in one condition, and 

7 



98 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

invest the same Matter — Matter, per se, with a new 
set of properties in another condition. 

§ 3. Matter cannot Exert Vital Force. 

Science has at its command laboratories in abun- 
dance ; many of them are richly endowed with means 
for developing, modifying, and testing the forces of 
Matter ; for half a century men of genius have used 
these facilities with great diligence for the purpose of 
extorting from Matter some form of vital energy ; 
the scientists of different nations have enlisted their 
energies in this work ; but as yet they have not suc- 
ceeded in constructing even the " cell ; " their highest 
achievement being the formation of indigo, and a few 
other like compounds. 

A complete idea of change or variation in the being, 
or essence of an atom of any kind whatever, cannot be 
formed by the Mind. In this respect let us see what 
thought can do with gold. We cannot think of this 
element as changing in essence unless we can con- 
ceive what it will surely become. The idea of anni- 
hilation — a something real becoming nothing — is un- 
thinkable. Before one atom can become another its 
essence must cease to exist as created, which supposi- 
tion implies the destruction of Matter ; then out of 
nothing the new substance is to arise, which implies 
the creation of Matter. The active and inflexible 
laws of thought do not allow the Mind to fall into 
such absurdities. Mind must abide by the fixity of 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 99 

the atoms as they are till it can grasp the new sub- 
stances into which they, ex hypotheca, are to be 
changed. In making such an attempt it finds itself 
trying to soar in a vacuum. 

The stability of the essence of the atoms is a basal 
fact in this discussion. If it varies with every new 
combination of elements, we cannot conjecture what 
forces in Matter may yet be developed, and vitality 
may be among them. If compelled to yield this 
point it will be impossible for Yitalists to deny, with 
absolute certainty, vitality to Matter. But every 
known fact of nature, as well as the laws of clear 
thinking, sustain the theory of the unchangeableness 
of the essense and forces of the atoms of Matter. 

A combination of atoms develops force, but does 
not create it. 

When, therefore, we think of Matter let us think 
of it simply as Matter ; the accident of its being in a 
lump, a liquid, a gas, in or out of an organism, is of 
no consequence. 

§ 4. Matter the Product of Infinite Wisdom. 

Matter, as such, however, is not to be despised. 
In its mysterious essence and its manifested projDer- 
ties and forces it is truly beautiful and wonderful. 
It gives us suns, worlds, and systems of worlds, and 
the infinite varieties of inorganic nature. It yields 
us gold, silver, copper, zinc, the air we breathe, the 
water we drink, the ground, the light, the heat, and 



100 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the changing seasons. It is because of the inherent 
capacities of Matter that vapors rise, that winds per- 
form their circuits, that rivers flow, and oceans roll. 
The elemental atoms are so richly endowed with 
force, and so intermixed, that their action and reac- 
tion, affinities and repulsions, have made it possible 
for a living organic world to be nourished upon the 
bosom of mother earth. 

But here the world of Matter must stop ; it can 
raise itself no higher ; it can go no farther. Matter 
exhausts its power in the wars and affinities of the 
atoms. 

All subsists by elemental strife. — Pope. 

Material nature builds up rocks and dissolves them 
again to form the ground ; vapor, water, and icebergs 
are the same substance under different conditions. 
The sun wars with the winds, and the winds war 
with the land and seas ; continents sink and become 
ocean-beds, and ocean-beds become continents, and 
thus the forceful and active Matter of the earth be- 
comes qualified to nourish and support a vegetable 
world. 

§ 5. The Life of an Organism. 

A speck of ammonia united with a molecule of car- 
bonic acid — that is, the elements oxygen, carbon, 
nitrogen, and hydrogen — constitute mostly the Matter 
of the wonderful organism called Bioplasm. These 
material elements, if brought together chemically or 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 101 

mechanical! j, cannot, however, be made to form an 
organic structure. They can only be made to form 
a speck of mere jelly. The jelly will, however, be 
identical in kind and percentage of elements as the 
Matter of the real Bioplasm. The forces, materially 
considered, are the same in both substances, and yet 
between the two plasma there is all the difference 
which subsists between life and death — the organic 
and inorganic worlds. 

The query, then, naturally arises : Is it not possible 
for us to lift the mass of matter into the world of 
Life ? So we apply to it various degrees of warmth, 
and watch the result. We vainly look for a change. 
We then apply to it electric forces to see if by that 
means the jelly cannot be made to live or give some 
sign of life. Still no change. We continue our 
efforts till all the incantations of chemistry, mechan- 
ics, and of every other branch of science are ex- 
hausted, only to conclude at last, that it is not possi- 
ble for us to impart life to mere matter. If in the 
real bioplastic cell there is nothing but Matter, con- 
taining merely chemical and mechanical forces, the 
chemist might and ought to work out with chemical 
and mechanical helps such living cells. The fact 
that he cannot do it is proof that the real cell con- 
tains a Somewhat that is not Matter. 

The Matter of this plasma forms by far the larger 
part of the globe, and the formed living plasma exists 
in great abundance in both plants and animals, and it 



102 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

is both the working agent and the matter used in the 
structure of organic bodies. Nature does not work 
behind a veil nor in secret, but openly and before 
our eyes, and challenges us, if we think we can, to 
imitate her operations. As often as her challenge 
has been accepted by the scientist he has been over- 
whelmed with defeat, and driven from the field a 
humbled man. 

As the elements of the plasmatic organism can 
afford no reason for its existence, and as they 
refuse to yield to the incantations of the Materialist, 
from whence comes this marvelous Bioplasm ? We 
now stand in the presence of the lower outer margin 
of the vital world, and it is important that we know 
of it all that can be known. On one side of the line, 
which separates the material from the vital world, we 
see that Matter never comes from Matter, nor comes 
at all ; and on the other side, that Life is constantly 
coming, but always from antecedent Life. From 
whence, then, came the first Bioplasm ? In the pres- 
ence of this question all science that is not false 
bows its head and is silent. But this is just what we 
need to know. With this field left as the " dark 
continent," but little remains that we care to ex- 
plore. 

For all that Science can do to help the longing 
mind of man, we are doomed to gaze upon the vast 
and complex organic world as an " insoluble mys- 
tery." What is Life, and what, in its highest form, 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 103 

is its destiny? are questions which, touch the supreme 
interests of each one of us. The thoughtful mind 
must have at this point something it can rest upon as 
truth, or it will feel that wisdom is a mockery. A 
gap left here cuts the center out of science, and 
leaves us nothing but a ragged rim. This shadowy 
coast can be cleared only by the admission of the ex- 
istence of God, the Life-giver ; but this admission 
materialists are reluctant to make, hence here their 
reasonings properly end, and we are left in midnight 
darkness. 

§ 6. The Mystery of Existence. 

The facts of nature carry us a certain distance, and 
we can go no farther, but from the point where we 
are compelled to stop we cannot avoid seeing an In- 
finity beyond. We speak of infinite space and in- 
finite time, or eternity, but those words surpass 
human comprehension, yet no man can escape from 
the consideration of them as facts. Is, then, the In- 
finity, which is irresistibly manifest to the thought 
of every man, empty, without significance, and with- 
out content ? The boundaries of our horizon are 
limited by our lame and limping faculties of thought 
and intuition ; but what we do know points out to us 
the existence of a thousand things which baffle our 
deepest penetration. We know that oxygen and hy- 
drogen unite and give us water, and that no other 
substances in the universe can do it ; but the ques- 



104 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

tion, What is the peculiar nature or essence of the 
constituents of water that they can unite, and that, in 
union, they take on the form of water, no mortal can 
answer. The being and essence of God is not more in- 
scrutable than those of an atom. It is folly for us to 
suppose that man can judge of the whole book of 
nature from the little he can read of it. Mighty 
minds, for many generations, have made supreme 
efforts to break the seals of material nature and 
reveal its secrets, but whatever path they have 
chosen to take has led them to a point from which 
all beyond was infinity. We can refer to no part of 
nature and say concerning it, " We understand it all." 
We do not believe the Materialist lives who can look 
upon a living, crawling, squirming bit of protoplasm 
and say, feeling that he tells the whole truth : " That 
is nothing but a compound of oxygen, hydrogen, ni- 
trogen, and carbon." He stands upon the borders of 
infinity, and he feels and silently confesses to himself 
that there is Something there he cannot see, and that 
his Science cannot explain. 

The Matter of this globe had existed for ages and 
ages before it became the theater of Life, and we 
may say that the reign of vitality has but just cono 
menced. There was a moment when it could be 
said, No speck of bioplasm has ever on earth existed ; 
and a next moment when it could have been an- 
swered back, Yes, but it has come ! It is here ! 
And there is a sense in which the Infinite is thus at 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 105 

present carrying forward the plan of creation. There 
was first the creation and the incomprehensibly long 
dominion of Matter, in which we see nothing but a 
display of its properties and energies ; in process of 
time much of this Matter became fixed and power- 
less in the azoic rocks ; in some instances the forces 
of nature reached a condition of equilibrium and neu- 
tralized each other ; and finally, as the result of un- 
numbered modifications, the forces of Matter had un- 
dergone in the formation of compounds, it became 
correlated to the forces of Life. 

Were it possible to evolve Life from Matter now, 
we should have reason to infer that it was at some 
remote period spontaneously introduced ; but there 
is not a fact to sustain the hypotheses of spontaneous 
generation, or that the skill of man is capable of so 
manipulating the forces of Matter as to cause them 
to generate even the lowest form of Life. 

What more likely and logical than that a living 
God should, as his first work, give existence to a vital 
universe, and that the vital and material worlds 
should be correlated to each other ? The facts of ob- 
servation prove that the forces of Life and the forces 
of Matter are so related that the Matter is spun into 
fibers, wrought into form, and built up into organic 
bodies. The late Prof. Clerk Maxwell thus strikingly 
contrasts atoms and vital organisms : 

" It is well known that living beings may be 
grouped into a certain number of species, defined 



106 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

with more or less precision, and that it is difficult or 
impossible to find a series of individuals forming the 
links of a continuous chain between one species and 
another. In the case of living beings, however, the 
generation of individuals is always going on, each 
individual differing more or less from its parent. 
Each individual during its whole life-time is under- 
going modification, and it either survives and propa- 
gates its species or dies early, according as it is more 
or less adapted to the circumstances of its environ- 
ment. Hence, it has been found possible to frame a 
theory of the distribution of organisms into species 
by means of generation, variation, and discriminative 
destruction. But a theory of evolution of this kind 
cannot be applied to the case of molecules, for the 
individual molecules neither are born nor die ; they 
have neither parents nor offspring, and so far from 
being modified by their environment, we find that 
two molecules of the same kind — say of hydrogen — 
have the same properties, though one has been com- 
pounded with carbon and buried in the earth as coal 
for untold ages, while the other has been occluded in 
the iron of a meteorite, and, after unknown wander- 
ings in the heavens, has at last fallen into the hands 
<?f some terrestrial chemist. We are, then, forced to 
look beyond them to some common cause to explain 
why this singular relation of equality exists. We 
have reached the utmost limit of our thinking facul- 
ties when we have admitted that, because Matter 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 107 

cannot be eternal and self-existent, it must have been 
created." 

The fact that it is the nature of Life, of every kind 
so far as we know, to clothe itself in a material or- 
ganism, suited to its nature and wants, is proof that 
such was the Creator's design ; and that to that end 
the forces of the one substance were correlated to the 
forces of the other. It is under the operation of this 
law that the human body is developed, and it holds 
good, without an exception, throughout the vegetable 
and animal kingdoms. The vital essence of the first 
man, by multiplication, lias become the Life of the hu- 
man race. There is nothing stable in organisms ; they 
are but transient phenomena — mere bubbles — afloat 
on the surface of the infinite ocean of life, and their 
destruction leaves the ocean as it was before. 

And yet it is in the organism alone that the pe- 
culiar capacity and power and beauty of both Matter 
and Life become developed. How astonishing that a 
Power exists anywhere which can take such ground 
as we tread on daily, and spin and weave it into the 
tissues, nerves, vessels, veins, arteries, and bones of 
the human body ! How little do we see of the capac- 
ity of a bed of dirt in the garden till the life of seeds, 
planted there, has given to it the surpassing beauty 
and fragrance of nature's wealth of flowers! The 
contrast between the matter of the ground and the 
matter of the rose and lily is the contrast between the 
forces of Matter and the forces of Life. Nothing but 



108 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Life can find and unfold the marvelous endowments 
of Matter, and the organism serves equally well to 
reveal the nature and building capacity of Life. The 
hidden and richest aspects of both kingdoms can be 
revealed only as the power of the one is developed 
by the other ; and thus viewed, the world of Matter is 
beautiful, the Vital world is beautiful, and their asso- 
ciation adds to the beauty of both. 

§ 7. Vital Phenomena Contrasted with the Forces of 

Matter. 

Let us now, by contrast and comparison, examine 
carefully the forces of Matter and Yital phenomena, 
and draw the line which separates the one realm from 
the other. 

1. A molecule of the mere Matter of Protoplasm 
may be mechanically brought into contact with other 
Matter without resistance ; but the living substance 
invariably rejects all kinds of Matter which is not 
suited to its sustenance and growth. 

Carbonic acid is a stable gas, but when brought 
into contact with vegetable Protoplasm the substance 
is analyzed, the carbon appropriated, and the oxygen 
rejected. In this fact the agency and active energy 
of a new and imperial power appears, which has taken 
up its abode in a world of Matter. To say that the 
physical forces of the Protoplasm — oxvgen, nitrogen, 
carbon, and hydrogen — have transformed themselves 
into Yital forces, is mere assertion, absurd, and inca- 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 109 

pable of proof. Living plants absorb with great 
rapidity the sulphate of copper, and it kills them. 
Often chemical affinities are wholly frustrated by the 
presence of Vitality. Vital forces thus use, utilize, 
and control the forces of Matter, or, in some instances, 
yield to them, and in either case the presence of the 
vital agent is apparent. 

2. Within the mass of Protoplasm may be noticed 
an internal and rapid circulation of currents in defi- 
nite and uniform lines, without in any way affecting 
the organism itself. In inorganic mixtures, of differ- 
ent temperatures, currents may be set in motion as in 
water and in the atmosphere, caused by the fact that 
the different temperatures are seeking an equilibrium. 
When that point is reached, the action in the liquid 
ceases. The former phenomena is vital, the latter 
mechanical. 

3. Protoplasm has in itself the power of expansion 
and contraction, and, under proper conditions of self- 
division, at will. Iron, when heated, expands, and in 
cooling contracts ; wood swells when wet, and shrinks 
in drying. Between the two classes of phenomena 
there is no parallel — only a distant resemblance. 

4. Protoplasm has power to effect chemical changes, 
causing a slow and steady heat without the aid of 
chemical or mechanical forces, and often in spite of 
them. Matter has no such force. 

5. The vital part of organic bodies selects the Mat- 
ter it can appropriate to the use of the structure, and 



110 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

so subordinates its forces as to preserve the specific 
idea or type of the organism. 

Thus we see that, on the inner border-line which 
separates the Yital from the inorganic world, Vital 
phenomena can be clearly and unmistakably distin- 
guished from the forces of Matter. On the outer 
rim of the two worlds the distinctions are greater 
and clearer. 

6. As all organisms have their beginning in Proto- 
plasm, or the Bioplastic Cell, a uniformity of compo- 
sition runs through the structure of living bodies, and 
in this important particular they differ from the 
heterogeneous masses of inorganic Matter. 

Will Materialists tell us by what force known to 
Matter does a quaternary cell produce the countless 
variety of forms which are found in the vegetable 
and animal kingdoms? There is no difference in the 
matter of the cell, Mr. Huxley teaches, which in one 
case grows into a man, in another into an eagle, in 
another into a fish, and in another into an oak. Put 
the eagle or the human cell into the water, and it 
will die ; take the fish cell away from the water, and 
it will die. As the matter of all the cells is alike, is 
there not something in the fish cell that is not iden- 
tical with that in the others ? And is it not this 
unknown Something which determines all the diverse 
results? Can it be possible that the same kind of 
unchangeable atoms of Matter produce the endless 
variety of forms that compose the vital world ? If so^ 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. Ill 

can reason detect, in this case, any logical connection 
between cause and effect? 

Our conclusion is, that vital substances of different 
kinds and orders are the basal cause of the organic 
world with all its diversities. Does it surpass faith 
as well as comprehension that the Life of an invisible 
cell — invisible because so small — possesses a potency 
adequate to control and weave Matter into the won- 
derful structure of the human body ? If incredu- 
lous, let us take a lesson of humble faith from Prof. 
Tyndall. 

While sitting upon the Matterhorn, one of the 
spurs of the Alps, musing upon the problems of the 
universe, he could believe that "the laws which then 
directed his thoughts had existed millions of ages ago 
in the fire-mist, when the globe was in the condition" 
of white-hot atoms. 

§ 8. The End for which Matter was Created. 

7. If we examine attentively the highest nature 
and the steady tendency of the forces of Matter, it 
will be seen that they have for their specific aim and 
end (1) the supply and preparation of food for the 
vegetable part of the organic world ; (2) for the ani- 
mal kingdom. 

~No nourishment suited to the wants of animal life 
can be made directly of inorganic Matter. What 
mother earth is to vegetable life, vegetable organisms 
are to animal life. One kingdom built upon another 



112 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

seems to be the order of nature. The lower gives 
itself for the support of the one above it, and evi- 
dently was made for that express purpose. Oxygen, 
the most active and powerful agent in the world of 
Matter, is incessantly engaged in the preparation of 
iron, sulphur, hydrogen, phosphorus, potassa, soda, 
calcium, magnesia, and other elements for this pur- 
pose. Much of this matter is used only upon occa- 
sion, and is then given back to the inorganic world. 

Were not Matter susceptible of being wrought into 
organic structures, the entire globe would be no more 
than the cinders of a volcano. An idea of creation, 
worthy of the name, cannot be derived from the ex- 
istence of mere Matter. It is when we see Matter 
wrought into the form of a plant, a flower, a forest, 
birds, animals, and man by active and energetic Vital 
agencies, that we are impressed with the wisdom and 
the supernatural power of the Infinite. "We are then 
in the presence of palpable creations which irresistibly 
carry us into the region of the incomprehensible. 
Our highest reason yields to the mastery of a power 
it can neither measure nor resist. In the Mind's nec- 
essary conception of the Infinite, man silently bows 
before it. 

8. In their development, organic bodies, governed 
by laws peculiarly their own, appear to move in 
cycles, while inorganic masses are but the sport of 
accidents, and of the attractions and repulsions of 
other bodies. 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 113 

To demonstrate this fact, we plant a kernel of corn 
in a warm, rich, moist soil, exposed to the light and 
heat of the vernal sun ; the germ, containing the Life 
part, is warmed into active growth, and in a few days 
we see the delicate form of the infant stalk above the 
ground, basking in the sunlight and feeding upon the 
atmosphere, its career of development fairly begun. 
The roots, at first nourished by the body of the ker- 
nel, are now strong enough to draw support from the 
pabulum the ground supplies. The development rap- 
idly advances, the vital element of the germ diffuses 
its forces throughout the entire body, controlling and 
co-ordinating to the processes of growth every parti- 
cle of the aliment received. We have only to wait a 
little time and we behold, proudly erect, the full- 
grown stalk, with its broad wing-like leaves, waving 
tassel, and pendant silk. The vitality of the stalk 
now enters upon a process of multiplication by self- 
division. The silk of the incipient ear, and the 
shower of dust-like pollen held by the tassel, possess 
vitalizing principles or susceptibilities, and at the 
right moment the pollen falls, the silk is fertilized, 
and in due time the Life that was buried in the 
ground with the kernel planted, returns with thirty, 
forty, or a hundred others with it. A cycle without 
a break has been made. The identical Life which 
was planted with the first seed returns, increased, per- 
haps, a hundred-fold. The inorganic part of the ker- 
nel perished in the beginning, and served as food for 



114 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the infant plant, but at no time did the Life change 
in essence or cease to be. The Life made the cycle 
without a break. The vital changes were diffusion, 
division, union of correlated vital principles, and the 
return of the same vital elements, each individual 
clothed with a new dress. The cycle being complete, 
we are at our starting-point, ready to make another 
round. And what is still more remarkable to con- 
template, the same Life we know has made thousands 
of such cycles before. 

In these facts we have proof that a real Life-sub- 
stance is a compound of Yital elements. In all con- 
ceptions, whether in the vegetable or animal world, the 
union of two correlated elements is necessary to the 
production of a perfect individual Life, whether that 
of a human body, or of a beast, a bird, a fish, or a 
flower. A single vital principle is not a Life, as 
oxygen is not water. A complete vital entity is a 
compound of co-ordinated vital principles. 

§ 9. Mind not the Life of the Body. 

9. A proper insight into the facts and processes of 
nature will lead us to make a very sharp and broad 
distinction between Life and Mind. Life, as an en- 
tity and as a compound of vital elements, may cease 
to be, because susceptible of disruption. Mind, being 
a simple substance, is incapable of division, hence its 
annihilation is inconceivable. All compounds in the 
material world may be destroyed by resolving' them 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 115 

into their constituent atoms, but an atom is inde- 
structible because a primal essence. The destructi- 
bility of Life is no proof that Mind can be de- 
stroyed. 

It is clear that Mind has but little to do with the 
construction of the organism, for the body of the 
child at birth is as perfect as its stage of develop- 
ment will permit, and yet it has never felt the action 
or influence of a self-possessed Mind. It brings into 
the world a capacity — a mental germ — which is yet 
to experience development, but in no sense is this 
inactive and undeveloped Mind the Life of the Body. 
The basis of the organism is no more mental in the 
case of human beings than in plants and animals. 

Nothing analogous to the living cycle in the struct- 
ure of bodies can be found in a world of mere Matter. 
Water may become vapor, or snow, or ice, and then 
again water, and these are among the highest feats 
that Matter can perform. But these changes differ 
from Vital phenomena in this essential particular : In 
water there is no self-directing power ; it is wholly 
subject to the law of affinity and of forces brought to 
bear upon it from without. In all organisms there is 
a Life within which so controls and co-ordinates the 
forces of Matter as to weave the atoms and molecules 
into organic structures. 

Matter manifests its forces in the formation of 
stones, the ground, the air, the crystal, colloids, and 
in the interaction of one body upon another. 



116 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

§ 10. The Law of Generation Limited to the Vital 
World. 

10. Vital forces are sharply distinguished from the 
forces of Matter, in that they are vastly and endlessly 
reproductive. 

Matter can make no addition to itself. The Mat- 
ter brought into being in the beginning still exists 
without any increase or diminution. All the forces 
of Nature combined are incapable of producing an 
atom of iron, gold, or of any other kind of Matter. 
One of the marvels of the Vital world is its various 
methods of multiplication. The atom is complete, 
and can be nothing but the solitary atom ; in the 
Vital world the one in time may become many mill- 
ions. Ages of change neither create nor destroy a 
particle of Matter. 

Such is the smallness of our globe and the poorness 
of its accommodations, that it does not support more 
than one vital germ out of thousands which make a 
struggle for existence upon it. Only a small fraction 
of the pollen and silk of a stalk of corn results in the 
formation of a kernel. Were none of the vital forces 
furnished our globe lost by miscarriage and other- 
wise, our supply long ago would have been sufficient 
to stock all the planets of the solar system. 

Matter, when made, became fixed in nature, and 
not a trace of the process of its creation do we find 
anywhere. The Matter-creating force can exist only 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 117 

in the fathomless depths of Infinity. Apparently 
that period of cosmical history was past long cycles 
ago. On the other hand, vital principles clothe 
themselves with organisms, and, by multiplication, 
form countless myriads of living structures. The 
base of material bodies is fixed unity ; of organisms, 
the ceaseless multiplying of vital essences. Life spins 
and weaves its many- colored robes from the world of 
matter, and swarms forth in myriad forms of beauty. 
All the matter of the globe, in process of time, possi- 
bly may be wrought into organic bodies. 

11. The resistance which organic bodies present to 
the forces of Matter constitutes one of their distin- 
guishing characteristics. 

Oxygen, comprising two fifths of the air, eight 
ninths of water, three fourths of animal bodies, and 
one half the crust of the earth, is the most active, 
ubiquitous, subtile, powerful, and destructive agent 
in nature. With one exception, it readily unites with 
other elements, and changes and modifies the forces of 
whatever it touches. An author, of vivid imagina- 
tion, thus describes the ravages of oxygen : " It is all 
around us like a lurking lion, constantly on the watch 
for a chance to spring upon and devour something. 
We gather a basket of luscious peaches and put them 
out of the way of the children, but we cannot out- 
reach the slyest pursuer of all — the oxygen, and soon 
we shall find the fruit covered with the prints of in- 
visible teeth. Black spots appear, and we say they 



118 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

are decaying; it is only the oxygen feasting upon 
them, and in a month it will devour them, skin and 
all. To prevent this we put our fruit in glass cans, 
heat them to expel the oxygen, seal them up tightly, 
and they are safe from this chemical plunderer. 

" We open the damper of the stove and the air 
rushes in. The oxygen immediately attacks the fuel, 
each pair of atoms catches up an atom of carbon and 
flies off into the air as carbonic acid. An animal 
dies, the oxygen is alert, and the instant his victim 
expires he begins to remove that which will be an 
offense to all sensitive nostrils. Through the air he 
flies, passing through dwellings, villages, and cities, 
scattering broadcast the nitrogenous and other parts 
of the animal. We cut a finger, and the moment 
vitality leaves the quivering flesh it is seized upon by 
the ever-present oxygen, whose richest repast is com- 
posed of nerves ; its presence in the rotten tooth is 
torture to the victim ; it seizes upon iron, and tugs 
away at its hard surface till it is covered with a coat 
of rust ; it has entered my ink-stand, and, uniting 
with the iron of the fluid, has so deepened the color 
and increased its consistency, that I must soon reduce 
it ; and always and every- where it is the same pilfer- 
ing, destructive, and necessary agent." 

There is no minute cell, no dark dungeon, no un- 
occupied space whither the destroyer does not come. 
The world of Matter has not a property nor a force 
which it may not modify or change. It turns iron 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 119 

into rust, nitrogen into air, hydrogen into water, car- 
bon — a diamond — into an acid, sulphur into vitriol, 
silicon into quartz, and thus it holds a sort of impe- 
rial sway in the elemental atomic kingdom. In some 
cases a single atom of oxygen is sufficient to master 
two, three, four, or a half-dozen atoms of other sub- 
stances ; but in other cases it has to multiply largely 
its own forces to master a single atom of another 
kind. 

§11. The Conservative Power of Life. 

The presence of Life is, however, a full protection 
to all organisms against the ravages of oxygen. It 
unites freely with the iron of our blood, but, because 
6f the presence of Life, has no power to change it 
into rust. In both plants and animals it comes into 
contact with sulphur and hydrogen, but the presence 
of Life will not allow the formation of sulphuric acid 
or the oil of vitriol. Oxygen finds silicon iu all or- 
ganisms, but has no power to change it into quartz 
by union with it. In the world of Matter oxygen is 
a destro} 7 er, but it destroys that the Vital world may 
be supplied with nutritious material. It was made 
to be the humble servant of the higher powers of 
Life. Pure carbon is never found except as a solid, 
but millions of tons of this substance are daily disin- 
tegrated by the chisel of oxygen, and the atoms taken 
in its arms are carried every-where and fed to the 
vegetable world. It is mostly through oxygen that 



120 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the Yital world holds its imperial sway over a world 
of Matter, and out of atoms and molecules constructs 
organic bodies. 

12. Inorganic bodies, in the undisturbed exercise 
of their forces, never increase in size, except by ex- 
ternal accessions of Matter ; whereas in the growth of 
Yital bodies a constant action is going on from the 
center to the surface and extremities. 

At the mouth of the Mississippi River a deposit of 
earth, more than one hundred feet deep, and covering 
an, area of some thirty thousand square miles, has 
been made by the action of the river upon the allu- 
vial soil through which it runs. Etna and Vesuvius 
have been enlarged by external accessions of lava till 
they are properly classed as mountains. The old style 
dipped candle is formed in the same manner. 

A class of scientists require that we should make 
no distinction between the deposit of gravel, sedi- 
ment, or lava and the growth of a tree or of a man. 
When shamed by the folly of such philosophy, the 
crystal is brought forward as a sample of real growth 
in the absence of a vital agent. Huxley and Spencer 
are the champions of this idea of growth ; but Lewes, 
11 high authority of the same school, dissents, saying: 

While one part of a crystal is atomically and mor- 
]: .ologically identical with every other, and is the 
whole crystal ' writ small,' one part of an organism is 
unlike another, and no part is like the whole. Hence 
the dependence of one organ and one tissue upon 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 121 

another, and each on all." * In the light of these 
facts a crystal can never be classed as an organism, 
nor can its formation be held as analogous to vital 
growth. If an atom of oxygen or any other sub- 
stance could envelop itself in carbon, then take on 
iron, then zinc, then nitrogen, or other substances, 
and yet maintain not only its own identity but dif- 
fuse its forces throughout the mass, co-ordinating 
all the forces of the other atoms, so as to realize 
a certain type of formation, such structure might 
be called the oxygen type, or some other appropri- 
ate type. But all such suppositions lie outside of 
the facts of material nature, and far distant from 
them. 

The study of embryology makes us familiar with 
the true idea of vital growth. A dot in the sub- 
stance of an egg^ so small that only the microscope 
can discover it, marks the beginning of an organic 
structure, and from this point, as a center, a circula- 
tion is set up, which incessantly enlarges its circum- 
ference. At this center resides all authority and 
power in the organism, and here the nourishment is 
prepared which is to be used for the growth of the 
body. From this center the circulation is propelled 
to the extremities. Nothing analogous to such vital 
growth is ever found in connection with the accumu- 
lations of inorganic Matter. 

13. Finally, through all the changes the Matter of 

*" Physical Basis of Mind." 



122 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

an organism may undergo, the vital substance remains 
the self-same essence. 

A process of waste and repair is constantly going 
forward in the human body, and in all other organic 
structures, which may be denominated a low form of 
combustion. A man weighing one hundred and fifty 
pounds has about sixty-four pounds of muscle, and 
these, with ordinary labor, are all consumed in about 
eighty days. The throbbing heart works day and 
night, and a new heart becomes necessary every forty 
days. Our bodies are like a slow flame, ceaselessly 
passing away, and by its vital agency ceaselessly fed 
and renewed. This destruction cannot be arrested ; 
hence re-creation by the use of new material is neces- 
sary to the preservation of the organism. 

In the course of a long life man has been connected 
with many tons of the most active and energetic 
kinds of Matter ; and yet, such is the persistence of 
the imperial Life within him, that its essence has 
not been touched. The Mind has been the inhab- 
itant of some twelve or fifteen different bodies in the 
course of a long life, and has maintained its identity 
amid the wear and waste of the physical structures. 
From the pedestal of ninety years he looks back to 
his childhood and feels that he is the same being 
who, as a boy, chased the butterflies in his father's 
garden. About this vital being, as a lamp-wick spun 
of a celestial substance, immense quantities of com- 
bustible matter have been consumed, but the wick 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 123 

remains. Can this wick, ever burning but not wast- 
ing, be of the same substance as the stuff consumed ? 
If so, why should the one substance pass away in a 
never-ceasing flow and the other remain ? The facts 
indicate the presence of an element which is not only 
self -centered and independent, but which, in some 
measure, extends its control over associated Matter. 

We delight in the study of matter, and would not 
detract one iota from any just eulogy which may 
be pronounced upon its properties and forces ; but 
earnestly we protest whenever these forces are con- 
founded with the very different and opposite facts 
which control the vital world. 

It thus appears that vital phenomena and material 
forces are never, even in their most delicate aspects, 
so near alike that it is difficult to distinguish the one 
from the other. It was to be expected that both 
worlds would somewhat fade out and become less dis- 
tinct as they approach a border line which separates 
them and is common to both. On the higher and 
more distant limits of the two realms their pe- 
culiar characteristics become more distinct. We can- 
not mistake Mont Blanc for an eagle perched upon 
it, nor the Matterhorn for Dr. Tyndall sitting 
upon its crags meditating upon the problems of the 
universe. 

Our knowledge and its limits in regard to both 
Matter and Life, and their mutual relations, may be 
summed up as follows : 



124 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

(1.) Of the origin of Matter and Life, Science 
teaches us nothing. 

(2.) Of the essence of either Matter or Life we can 
form no conception; but the facts of their existence 
as substances, and their properties and forces, are 
clearly revealed in their phenomena. 

(3.) The atomic theory of Matter, and the individu- 
ality of Life, may be accepted as true. 

(4.) Matter and Life have each properties and forces 
which are exclusively their own, and specially corre- 
lated to each other. 

(5.) Material Atoms and Yital Elements are known 
by their respective phenomena, the phenomena of 
Matter being the aggregation of atoms, their proper- 
ties and forces ; the phenomena of Life being the 
organization of Matter/ into living structures and the 
resulting peculiar activities. 

(6.) Each kind of Matter and Life has a nature or 
essence, which is exclusively its own, and no one sub- 
stance can be transmuted into another. 

(7.) The phenomena of Material Aggregations prove 
the existence of atoms, and the phenomena of the 
Organization of the Atoms into complicated living 
structures, prove the reality of Yital Elements. 

(8.) Material Atoms invariably act in their own ma- 
terial ways, which are not in any one particular the 
ways of Yitality ; and Yital Elements act in their 
own peculiar ways, which are not in any respect the 
ways of Matter. 



Vital and Material Forces Contrasted. 125 

(9.) Every organism, whether animal or vegetable, 
is a demonstration of the great truth that the Vital 
and Material worlds are correlated to each other. 

(10.) Matter and Lite form two kingdoms, separate 
and distinct in essence, but associated in the organ- 
ism, and analogous in their mysteries and manifesta- 
tions. 

(11.) The Essence of Life is as fully in the field of 
observation in the organic world as the Essence of 
Matter in the inorganic. The argument which proves 
the reality of Matter proves also the reality of Life. 

(12.) Matter cannot come from Matter, nor does 
new Matter come at all. Life comes from antecedent 
life, and the one may become millions of the same 
order. 



126 Mattee, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE MIND, AS THE MAN, IDENTIFIED IN THE ORGANISM. 

" Man is not an Organism ; he is an Intelligence served by organs." 
— Sir William Hamilton. 

" Man became a living soul." — Bible. 

§ 1. The Significance of Persistent Terms. 

AS the crowning work of creation, man stands 
alone, and refuses classification. His association 
with Matter is not necessarily a degradation, nor does 
the Body serve as a veil of covering to the Mind, but 
rather it is used as a means of self-manifestation. 

Man's place in nature is fixed, not arbitrarily, but 
by his surpassing endowments of mental and moral 
power. 

All that has been said in previous chapters of Mat- 
ter applies to his physical structure, and need not be 
repeated. His body is neither worse nor better than 
the ground on which he treads. 

Our ideas of man's greatness cluster about the 
words Mind, Spirit, Soul, Life, Thought, Reason, 
Will, Consciousness, Intelligence, and the ever-en- 
during monuments of thought which the Genius of 
the departed has left behind them. The special 
signification of these terms, and of cognate words in 
other languages, has sprung from the consciousness 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 127 

and observation of mankind, and they have never 
been used except in raetaphoric and poetic expres- 
sions, only as the symbols of a thinking substance, 
real in itself, and vital in essence. 

Even among the very lowest tribes of people on 
earth, where we find a name for the sun, moon, stars, 
rain, storms, etc., in this small class of conspicuous 
and palpable objects the Mind of man is included ; 
and if our conceptions of this self-conscious subject, as 
ourself, are the figments of the imagination, then the 
voice of humanity on any subject, prolonged through 
ages of history, may be a lie and a cheat. In the 
mental nature of every man a consciousness exists 
whose voice has the truthfulness and authority of a 
divine oracle, and its every utterance signifies that 
man is a Spirit Intelligence. 

These terms, Mind and Spirit, stubbornly refuse to 
coalesce with a physical terminology, and materialists 
have vainly made a supreme effort to strike them out 
of the vocabulary of Science. Prof. Huxley gravely 
tells us that he has no more use for the term vitality, 
when speaking of men and living creatures, than for 
the word " horology," when discoursing upon the 
time-marking clock. Prof. Bain vainly subjects our 
language to torture in a protracted attempt to wring 
from it some form of expression which will set forth 
vital phenomena in terms of Matter. Spencer, Lewes, 
De Blainville, Heckel, and many others have labored 
assiduously to accomplish the same feat ; but even if, 



128 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

as the sun would continue to shine if denied a name, 
so Mind, a substance equally real, will ever assert its 
existence regardless of all attempts to rob it of its 
title made by Materialists. Great practical facts and 
truths incarnate themselves in language, and even if 
modern Materialists could render obsolete the terms 
of vitality and spirit, the truths they represent would 
continue to well up in human consciousness, and find 
expression in others equally appropriate. 

It is a pregnant fact that all nations and peoples, 
from the highest to the lowest, have recognized, in 
some form, the fact of spiritual existences, to which 
man himself, in his mental nature, stood related. 
These facts are but the spontaneous and unconscious 
expression of the nature of man. 

§ 2. Mind fully in the field of Observation. 

But, say Materialists, "Show us the human soul as a 
real substantive entity and it sufficeth us ; bring Life 
and Mind fully into the field of observation ; make 
them stand side by side on the same plane of observa- 
tion with Matter, that we may distinguish between 
them, and we will be content." 

Very well. Let us then first see how fully Matter, 
per se, is subject to the inspection of our senses. As 
there are at least sixty-five different kinds of Matter, 
each kind endowed with a nature or essence of its 
own, to see Matter as it is, we must see it in its primary 
condition as an entity, and not in the heterogeneous 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 129 

mass. We can form a true conception of the mole- 
cule only as we examine it in its individuality. But 
what Materialist ever brought any one of the sixty- 
five elements into the field of observation? An ag- 
gregation of 400,000 atoms would not form a mass of 
sufficient magnitude to be seen, even with the micro- 
scope. The fact is, Matter, as the primal unit, can- 
not be recognized by any of our sense organs, even 
when aided by the most delicate and powerful in- 
strument now at our command. Man's place in the 
universe seems to be about midway between vast 
worlds and systems of worlds above him, and worlds 
equally numerous and inconceivably small below him; 
and it is probable that the revelations of the micro- 
scope will surpass in variety and wonder the universe 
that can be brought within the range of the tele- 
scope. 

The entity of Matter is not to be found in the com- 
pound, nor in the mixture, nor in the organic body, 
for these have but little more stability than a shifting 
cloud, but in the changeless atomic unit. Permanent 
endurance does not pertain to any form of aggregated 
Matter, consequently an entity of Matter is not, and 
cannot be, an object of observation. 

Matter as an entity, Matter in its primal state of 
atoms, and Matter as an essence, or as many separate 
essences, is not so much, by far, in the field of obser- 
vation as Life and Mind — a fact that cannot be too 

deeply impressed upon the mind. By the aggregation 
9 



130 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

of atoms and the development of the forces and 
properties of compounds thus formed, we may learn 
something of the phenomena of Matter, and of the 
existence of Substance ; but beyond these limits 
knowledge cannot be made to pass. We answer the 
Materialist, and say positively, Show us Matter as an 
entity, in its primal atomic condition, that we may 
examine its essence, and we will engage to exhibit to 
you Life and Mind as substances, that you may exam- 
ine them in like manner. The fact is, we know 
nothing of either, except the bare facts of their exist- 
ence and their phenomena. I pick up a stone or a 
lump of earth. I know by its phenomena I have in 
hand a substance, but the kinds of Matter which en- 
ter into this mass, and the percentage of each, I can 
only conjecture. When I have reduced the mass to 
its primal atomic condition, the atoms are not within 
the reach of my senses. They are removed as much 
beyond any field of observation as the dusty cometary 
fuel that feeds the fires of the sun. Life is a vital 
essence ; Mind is a conscious substance of a higher 
order, and in sensation and thought these essences, in 
their individuality, are as fully in the field of obser- 
vation as any Substance can be. Can as much be said 
of Matter? 

A mass of pure iron is a phenomenal resultant, 
consequent upon the aggregation of many atoms of 
the same kind. It is not an entity, but an aggrega- 
tion of an unknown number of entities, and of the 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 131 

number, essence, form, and shape of the entities it 
gives us no conception. I can form no idea of the 
influence which the union or contact of the atoms lias 
upon their forces or properties. Of ultimate sub- 
stances, then, whether of Matter, Life, or Mind, we 
know nothing beyond the fact of their existence. 

§ 3. The Reality of Substance. 

But does not this picture of realities raise a doubt 
as to the existence of any ultimate substance % Can 
the Mind receive as real that of which no definite 
conception can be formed in consciousness ? Is an 
indefinite consciousness of a partial conception of a 
Real to be regarded as a legitimate action of the in- 
tellect % Let us proceed cautiously. 

Every possible line of thought which is made up 
of phenomena logically points to, and is based upon, 
positive existences as their active and energetic cause. 
In our confessed ignorance of the nature of Substance 
we make a clear declaration of its existence. When 
thinking of the phenomenon we necessarily think of 
the antithetic noumenon. It is rigorously impossible 
for us to think of an appearance when nothing ap- 
pears and appears to nothing. Our conception of the 
thing that appears may be very indefinite, but we 
know to an absolute certainty that it is something 
real. 

Though it may be impossible to form a conception 
of the size, form, or essence of any kind of Matter, 



132 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

jper se, or of Life or Mind, per se, yet in spite of sneers 
and all other efforts to the contrary, Atoms, Life, and 
Spirit, as substances, must forever remain with ns as 
positive and ineradicable forms of thought. And 
especially in our meditations upon vital and intellect- 
ual phenomena Mind acquires a momentum which 
inevitably carries us deep down to causal substance, 
and these, though we can give them no form nor 
discern their essence, must persist in us as permanent 
parts of the world's realities. By their very nature 
our conception of them is rendered indefinite, yet 
real, and, because indefinite, unassailable and inde- 
structible. 

Matter, then, is not so fully in the field of ob- 
servation as one at first thought might suppose. 
Materialists should not press their demand to see or 
touch Life or Mind as substances till they can put on 
exhibition an entity of Matter. 

§ 4. The Correlates of our Sense-organs. 

But let us look at this problem from the stand-point 
of the correlation of substances and our sense-organs. 
Is there nothing real in the universe except what is 
correlated to some one of these organs ? Is Man of 
sufficient breadth to be considered the counterpart 
of all things else? The idea that he is the measure of 
the universe causes it, in our imagination, to shrink 
into very narrow and mean proportions. Wide as is 
the range his senses take, it is probable that the larger 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 133 

part of the universe exists beyond their reach, even 
when aided by the telescope and microscope. 

It is evident from the practical use we make of the 
senses, that each one was intended to establish and 
adjust our relation to a specific department of the 
material world. The eye is correlated to the light, 
and embraces a wide range of objects, but it has its 
limits; the sense of hearing is confined to the work 
of noting the vibrations of the air ; by the sense of 
taste we simply mark a distinction in flavors ; by the 
sense of smell we discern the presence of odors ; and 
by the sense of touch we extend in various ways still 
further the range of our knowledge. All the senses 
are but variations of the sense of touch, and in their 
action one material object comes into contact with 
another. These senses were intended to be specially 
useful to a Spirit Intelligence, as a transient inhabit- 
ant of earth ; and each one is limited to a specific 
feature of Matter. It is probable, if not certain, that 
other and different senses would find in nature new 
departments of activity and force as their counter- 
part. We cannot see the Intelligence we call Man, 
for the reason that spirit does not reflect light upon 
the retina of the eye. For a similar reason we can- 
not see a sound, an odor, or a flavor ; hence they do 
not come within the range of vision. We cannot 
taste this self, for there comes from spirit to the 
organ of taste no flavor ; we cannot hear it, for 
thought gives no motion to the air that it may beat 



134 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

upon the tympanum of the ear; we cannot feel it, 
for it makes no tactual impression upon the nerves 
of the body. Thus we see that the idea is absurd 
that a physical sense should be correlated to any 
thing except Matter. If by the senses we could 
apprehend Mind, that fact would demonstrate that 
Mind is Matter. 

At some stage of human development, in the far 
away future, consciousness may become a spiritual 
and vital sense. Eliphaz, in his argument with Job, 
gives this item of experience : 

" Now a thing was by stealth brought to me, 

And mine ear received a little thereof. 

In thoughts from the visions of the night, 

When deep sleep falleth upon men, 

Fear and trembling met me, 

And shook the multitude of my bones. 

A spirit then passed before my face; 

The hair of my flesh stood up ; 

It stood still — 

I could not discern the form thereof. 

An image was before my face; 
I heard a still voice saying : 
' Shall mortal man be more just 

Than God?'" 

Sir "William Hamilton says: "However astonish- 
ing, it is now proved, beyond all rational doubt, that 
in certain abnormal states of the nervous organism, 
perceptions are possible through other than the ordi- 
nary channels of the senses." * 

* " Reid's Philosophy," p. 246, foot-note. 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 135 

§ 5. The Authority of Consciousness. 

I do not see that entity I call " myself," but I am 
conscious that I exist, and that, in a way, is to know 
and to see self, and knowledge of any thing, more 
absolutely certain, man cannot possess. I know that 
it is the ego that thinks, wills, and feels, and that in 
such action the senses take no part. The Being which 
thus acts I know to be myself, the Mind-Man. The 
loss of the senses, one by one, would simply embarrass 
access to the external world, but would leave the ego 
untouched. The ego, which I know to be myself, I 
recognize in kind in every other man ; and the fact 
that Life and Mind wholly escape the observation of 
our material sense-organs, is no proof that they do 
not exist. 

Material substances, phenomena, and laws demon- 
strate the existence of a material world, which, in its 
primal atomic state, could not have been subject to 
the observation of such senses as we now have ; and 
vital phenomena, in a thousand ways clearly apparent 
to sense by the use of Matter, demonstrate the exist- 
ence of vital and intellectual realms. 

The great, if not exclusive, mission of vital sub- 
stances in this world, is to organize Matter — the raw 
material — into various organic structures. The kinds 
of life known as vegetable, ranging from mold and 
the algai to the sensitive plant and the cedar, con- 
stitute an incomprehensibly vast kingdom. This 



136 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

kingdom serves as the base of the animal kingdom, 
and the animal as the base of the intellectual realm, 
and the intellectual as the base of the Spiritual. Every 
organism, whether animal or vegetable, lias a Life that 
is its, and the life built the structure. As differ, 
in form and type and texture, the structures, so differ 
the kinds of life which spun and wove their tissues 
together. Out of the same kinds of Matter different 
vital substances produce the vast variety of organisms 
we behold in field and forest. The Matter of all 
animal organisms is substantially the same, and the 
difference of the structures is caused by the radical 
differences which exist in the vital builders. 

Man's body is the most delicate and complicated of 
known organisms. It is composed of about seventeen 
kinds of Matter, and these are wrought into many 
millions of distinct and perfectly adjusted organs. 
Man is not an animal — he is man. He possesses a 
vital nature which separates him from the brute crea- 
tion. Human nature cannot become brutal, for no one 
substance can be changed into a different substance. 
Man's body is ordinary Matter, but that is no part of 
the man.* His Life is not animal, but sui generis, 

* I accept the deduction of science, that atoms as well as worlds 
have a constant motion in a marvelously attenuated and inelastic 
fluid or substance, called ether. As a concomitant fact, atoms are 
not closely packed together in the mass, but each is afloat in the 
ethereal fluid, and friction and wear is rendered impossible. May not 
this mysterious ethereal substance constitute man's essential body, 
aud be a part of the man proper — "the house not made with 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 137 

and human. Mind is a living substance, made to think, 
and it is not the body-builder. Man proper is a Spirit- 
Intelligence, for whose use, in its relation to a world 
of Matter, a human life has supplied a convenient 
organism, correlated both to Mind and an external 
world, and, as a bridge, it spans the gulf which inter- 
venes between the physical and intellectual worlds. 

In sleep Mind retires to its own sanctum, or is 
quiescent that the body may recuperate ; but in the 
meantime the life of the body carries on its work as 
usual. 

Life, as the active conservator of the body, makes 
its power felt in every part, even to the microscopic 
nerves. In the gradual softening of the brain, even 
when the cerebrum, as an organism, is utterly de- 
stroyed and incapable of further use, the nervous 
system, not thereby receiving a death-dealing shock, 
the life of the body may, and often does, continue in 
operation for some years. The actions of the body 
indicate that the Mind is wholly powerless, if not 
absent ; but the suspension or loss of mental activity 
does not seem to affect in any way the life or health of 
the body. The Yital man continues to eat and drink, 
and wake and sleep, as usual ; and automatically 

hands " — not the organism ? The loss of life sends the organism 
down to the grave, but a resurrection has been proclaimed. In the 
course of a long life-time the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, sufficient 
to form many bodies, come and go, supplying the waste of the body; 
but, it is positively absurd to suppose that such Matter, in quantity, 
should form the spiritual and glorious body described by St. Paul. 



138 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

moves about as physical instinct or nervous irritation 
may incline. In this demolition of the brain-castle 
we may not be able to trace the consequences upon 
the Mind, whether it is present or absent, but this we 
clearly see, that the living body that remains is not 
the Man or Mind, and it follows that Mind and Body 
are not dependent upon each other for existence or 
action. Even when locally in the body, Mind can act 
only in the realm of ideas. Euclid's Life built his 
body ; his Mind built his geometry. The Life and 
its work have perished ; the Mind and its work are 
immortal. 

The anatomical structure of the body is correlated 
to its Life ; the organic structure, animated by a vital 
element, is correlated to the Mind. 

The body is an index of its Life, but not of the 
Mind. A Mind keen in its penetrations and enor- 
mous in strength, may be associated with a diminu- 
tive, sickly, and ungainly body. The body may be 
a giant and the Mind a dwarf. A brilliant Mind in a 
splendid body is a fortunate but rare occurrence. The 
Greeks had but one Apollo, and other nations have 
felt in this respect the parsimony of nature. 

The use Life makes of Matter is analogous to 
the use Mind makes of Ideas. In the one case, the 
elemental atoms and molecules are spun into tissues 
and woven into organic bodies ; in the other, thought 
is linked to thought, and thus woven into science, 
philosophy, religion, systems of trade, the arts, and 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 139 

poetry. Mind cannot touch Matter, nor Life an Idea. 
Mind is closely associated with the Life of the body 
as focused in the sensorium, and, secondarily, with 
the body itself. These facts demonstrate that the 
conscious Mind is a unit of substance, peculiar in 
essence, specific and limited in power, and that the 
Life of the body, as quite a different thing, occupies 
another plan, and performs another work, in the 
economy of nature. 

Where an object is seen, there must be an eye to see 
it ; where there is a sound, thera must be an ear ; and 
where a problem is solved, there must be a Thinker 
that solves it : and each agent in nature has a special 
mission of its own, and beyond the boundaries set to 
it, it cannot pass. Oxygen cannot do the work of 
silicon ; the mustard-seed cannot build an oak ; and, 
while Mind can think and will and feel, beyond these 
limits it cannot go. Only by annihilation can Mind 
be removed from its own proper realm of ideas, and 
if we conceive it to be a substance, the idea of its 
annihilation is unthinkable. 

There are feats the Mind cannot perform. It can- 
not believe that a part is equal to the whole, nor that 
the figure of a circle coincides with the figure of a 
square, nor that Matter, such as stones and lumps — 
and there is none better — inspired our Lord's sermon 
on the mount, nor that Matter can read and under- 
stand it. 

The question before us is this : Are mental phe- 



110 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

noraena so peculiar, so distinct, and so sharply marked, 
and so unlike all the properties and effects of Mat- 
ter that man, the party in question, with a full under- 
standing of the whole subject, and guided by the light 
of his own consciousness, is compelled by the law of 
necessary beliefs to assume for himself and for his 
race a non-material, separate, and vital existence? In 
his higher nature is he not rigorously conscious that 
he is related to a world of Mind and not Matter? 
These are the questions with which this age is wrest- 
ling, as other ages have done before. 

§ 6. Vicious Method of Study. 

Materialists, hastily followed by many Vitalists, have 
led the Avorld astray by making the study of Life and 
Mind a question of physiology — that is, a question of 
organic Matter. Prof. Bain conceives man to be a 
piece of organic Matter which, by " fits " and turns, 
is "two-sided," one side mental and the other ma- 
terial. 

Ask Prof. Huxley if Mind and Life exist as living 
substances, and as a philosopher he subjects nerves, 
protoplasts, molecules, and brain Matter to chemical 
analysis and to microscopic observation, and finding 
nothing but Matter, he returns a negative answer. 
He reports that he has examined all those organs 
which are most closely associated with Life and Mind, 
and concludes that what we call Life and Mind are 
not existences, but affections of Matter. 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 141 

Is the method of inquiry candid or correct which 
seeks for Life and Mind as if they were Matter ? — 
which seeks the living oniy among the dead ? If 
chemistry could find in an organism a tangible sub- 
stance which, without a shade of doubt, was the cause 
of thought and vital phenomena, whatever was thus 
found would be Matter, and Materialism would be 
established. But, as vital substances are not mate- 
rial, the time spent in searching for them in brain- 
matter, nerves, tissues, blood and bones is labor lost. 
There may be diamonds, though not found in every 
heap of rubbish. 

Anatomy can deal only with organic results when 
the vital cause of the structure is absent. Vivisection 
can proceed but a little way when death ensues, and 
the dissecting knife can then feel its way only among 
the nerves and tissues of the dead. The search for 
Life really commences only after the Life has fled. 
Should I find a bee-hive well filled with honey and 
honey-comb, but beeless, and conclude, because I 
could find no bees, that the honey and wax had gath- 
ered themselves together, I should argue as Material- 
ists do. Because they find not a tangible, active soul 
in a dead body, they conclude that the Matter of the 
organism built itself, and that the vital world is an 
illusion. 

In the study of Biology and Psychology the scalpel, 
the spectroscope, the microscope, and the laboratory 
are of no use whatever ; they lead from the truth 



142 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

rather than to it. To find either vital, mental, or 
material substances, we must seek for each where it 
is, and by proper methods. At every step of their 
inquiry, Materialists, notwithstanding their consum- 
mate knowledge of physical science, encounter mys- 
teries which, confessedly, they cannot explain ; but 
if they would be content to study the different de- 
partments of nature, each separately, their diffi- 
culties would largely disappear. Whoever tries to 
demonstrate that the figure of a circle corresponds 
to the figure of a square, has in hand a problem that 
will give him trouble. To conceive the true idea of 
either Matter, Life, or Mind, but one of these sub- 
stances can be permitted to occupy our thoughts at 
the same time. The truth, in each case, shines forth 
only in its own light, and it disdains the aid of bor- 
rowed rays. Mind is a thinking, self-centered, and 
self-directing substance, and the attempt to unfold its 
properties and describe its activities in the terms and 
by the laws of Matter, throws confusion over the 
whole subject. Each Real in nature is most clearly 
seen as it is, when examined in its place and in 
the office it fills. Man should be content to accept 
nature as it was created, and not proudly attempt to 
prove what it should be. 

And philosophers study one topic at a time in all 
other departments of research. A systematic study 
of organic structures — a study long pursued by many 
men of genius in many schools — has created the 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 143 

science of anatomy, and we pursue this study suc- 
cessfully only when, with scalpel and microscope 
in hand, we prosecute the work of dissection and 
analysis. 

The vital part of all beings and things should 
also, in idea, be separated from each other and from 
Matter, and be examined solely as special phenom- 
ena, manifested through their respective organic 
bodies. No one subject should be allowed to come 
in and obscure another. Should we mix together 
promiscuously the elements of music, chemistry, 
mathematics, and grammar, the results would be as 
clear and as instructive as the teachings of modern 
biologists and psychologists, who teach us to con- 
ceive the idea that Mind and Life and Matter form 
a unit of substance. Their conception of both Mind 
and Matter is an idoal chaos, and baffles all attempts 
at clear thinking. As Monists holding to the exist- 
ence of but one substance, they should so frame their 
definitions as to include all material, vital, and mental 
qualities, forces, and phenomena in one true and log- 
ically expressed conception. But such a feat the 
genius of man cannot perform. But a sharp analysis 
and a careful classification of the things and facts of 
both Life and Matter separately will lift these sub- 
jects into the light of their real nature. 

Man can rely with absolute certainty upon the 
validity of his consciousness when his personal exist- 
ence as a self, distinct from surrounding objects, is 



144 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

in question. The consciousness that finds expression 
in the words, "I am," is the Self spending the mo- 
ment in self-communion. Man has the ability of 
self-inspection, and out of its exercise has grown the 
.science of psychology. Self- consciousness is Self 
scrutinizing its faculties, their functions, and powers. 
The Self exhibits to the Self its own being and nature 
in the attributes of the Mind. The mental essence is, 
of course, inscrutable, but its properties and powers 
find their fullest expression in the faculties which are 
subject to the observation and study of consciousness. 
Man's consciousness, or selfhood, isolates the ego from 
the body and from the rest of the universe as fully as 
if he existed as pure Mind. Solitary and alone, he 
knows that his ego is not his hands, nor the body as a 
w T hole. That Self, as a unit, stands apart and thinks 
of the body and of the universe ; thinks about them, 
classifies and analyzes their parts, and at every step 
it is certain that the objects considered are not parts 
of its own being. Our ability thus to distinguish 
between the subjective self and objects known, lies 
at the base of all science, logic, and philosophy. 

In thinking, the mental Self must do its own work; 
the hand can no more render it help than the pen the 
hand may hold. The Mind-self knows the body as 
one of many objects of knowledge ; such knowledge 
the body can reciprocate no more than trees or stones. 
The perceptive and knowing power is all in the Mind; 
the objects known may be the Mind's own faculties, 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 145 

or things separate and distinct from it. In the dis- 
section of a human body the operator knows that 
every stroke of the scalpel reveals to him the struct- 
ure of his own body, all human bodies being fashioned 
after a common type ; but the Self is never found in 
any of the paths made by the knife of the anatomist. 
Mind and body are so distinct and so unlike that the 
methods of studying them have nothing in common. 
The sciences of anatomy and physiology throw not 
a ray of light upon the essence of Life, the structure 
of the Mind, or the laws of thought. 

All we know of body may be expressed in terms 
which are applicable to Matter, such as extension and 
solidity ; but such language, if applied to Life or 
Mind, would be clearly absurd. To designate the 
Mind we use the terms reason, intellect, judgment, 
thought, will, and feeling; and these terms applied 
to Matter — even Matter in the most complex organ- 
ism — would sound like the irony of a buffoon^ Not 
even our coarsest Materialists have yet ventured to 
make such an application of them ; they are, how- 
ever, content at present to compel us to infer that 
such is the doctrine they expect to announce in the 
future. But the field embraced in the scope of con- 
sciousness should be more fully explored. To know 
ourselves is to know the human race ; for the race is 
a unit of individuals, all cast in the same typical form 
by the energy of like human vital substances. Con- 
sciousness is the valid foundation of all knowledge. 
10 



146 Matteb, Life, and Mind. 

It is not only the Mind's cognition of itself, but of its 
perceptions, its observations, thoughts, feelings, and 
purposes. We are further conscious, not only that 
these thoughts and purposes exist, but that they are 
ours, whose source and origin is the thinking Self. 
The first and the ceaseless utterance of consciousness 
is, " I am," " I exist," and thus the Self is, in a way, 
made visible to an intellectual perception. I know 
I am, not by reasoning, nor logic, nor inference, 
nor by any complex mental process, but such knowl- 
edge is the direct outcome from the ego, as light 
radiated from a burning lamp. No event, mental or 
physical, can be more sharply defined than the act 
in which consciousness takes cognizance of Self. Such 
act has not, apparently, the slightest connection with 
any of the sense-organs, or the physical organism. 
Neither muscles, blood, bones, brains, tissues, nerves, 
nor any thing physical, mingles its forces with the 
pure cognizance the Mind takes of itself. We are 
not conscious that the brain-mass takes part in this 
action of the Mind more than the blood or bones ; 
and all that Bain, Huxley, and others have said about 
the relation which subsists between thought and the 
action of the molecules of the brain, Dr. Lionel 
Beale, George H. Lewes, and Prof. Tyndall, being 
judges, are mere fancies, unsupported by a known 
fact in phvsiology. 

I can also say, " I feel that I am," and I can think 
that I feel, and can discriminate between different 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 147 

kinds of feeling. I am conscious that the thoughts 
and feelings are mine, not another's, and this convic- 
tion is absolutely inclusive and exclusive. The wit- 
nesses I have of the reality of my mental existence, 
I perceive, are two, and either is unerring and ulti- 
mate — incapable of being doubted, and too self-evi- 
dent to admit of proof. Consciousness, like a sentinel, 
stands by the Mind, while it acts, and notes the end- 
less variety of its thoughts, feelings, and purposes. 
Thought follows thought, one modifies another ; one 
banishes another ; a series of thoughts, purposes, and 
feelings become linked together, and consciousness 
assures me that all are mine, and that for any action 
that may follow I am responsible. We are subject 
to the raptures of love, the bitterness of hate, the 
burning of desire, the inspiration of hope, the depres- 
sions of grief, and the wretchedness of despair ; and 
so decisive is the voice of consciousness, that we know 
without a shadow of doubt that these states of feeling 
belong to the Self, and not to another — to Mind, and 
not to Body. 

§ 7. The Fallacy of the Materialistic Argument. 

In contrast with the above conception of man, Mr. 
George H. Lewes, in his work entitled "The Phys- 
ical Basis of Mind," uses the following language as 
the key-note to his Materialistic Philosophy : " It is 
enough that Mind is never manifested except in a 
hiving organism to make us seek, in an analysis of 



148 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

organic phenomena, for the material conditions of 
every mental fact.* 

The importance of this sentence depends upon the 
construction the author subsequently attaches to it. 
Mr. Lewes does not say that Mind never acts, but 
that its action is never "manifest" to others, except 
in a living organism. That may be literally true, 
and, if so, it is well enough to seek in an " analysis 
of organic phenomena for the material conditions" 
of every " manifested mental fact." The stiffness of 
Mr. Lewes's pedantry laid aside, the case may be 
stated thus : As man's senses are all correlated to 
Matter, Mind is to him an invisible and intangible 
object ; it is, therefore, never " manifested, except in 
a living organism ; " and then we must, of course, 
seek "for the material conditions of every mental 
fact" in organic phenomena. Thus understood, this 
language is unobjectionable ; but Mr. Lewes really 
means to teach that " material conditions " produce 
" every mental fact." He is a Monist, and holds 
that Matter is the sole substance known to the uni- 
verse. In a human organism he recognizes only 
material elements ; these he invests with vital prop- 
erties and forces, and the action of these elements he 
denominates a manifestation of Mind. In his Preface 
he says : " The nature of Life deals with the special- 
ty of organic phenomena, as distinguished from the 
inorganic. It sets forth the physiological principles 
* Page 3. 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 149 

which psychology must incessantly invoke." Still 
further : " Not only has there been more than one 
attempt at a Mathematical Psychology, but also at- 
tempts to reduce sensibility in its subjective no less 
than its objective aspect, to molecular movements. 
Here, also, the facts of quality are translated into the 
facts of quantity, and all diversities of feeling are 
interpreted as simply quantitative differences." * 
Note this language : " Quality translated into quan- 
tity ; " that is, a thought, a fancy, a feeling, love, 
etc., estimated by the mass, by weight, by the quart 
or yard ! Yital phenomena are regarded as prod- 
ucts of Matter. Molecular movements in the mat- 
ter of the brain — movements of which nothing is 
known and whose existence is purely hypothetical — 
are made the basal factor in this problem. " Organic 
conditions," not one of which does Mr. Lewes pretend 
that he understands, form the details of the system. 
Let us hear, on this point, the honest Prof. Tyndall : 
"If asked to deduce from the physical interaction 
of the brain-molecules the least of the phenomena 
of sensation or thought, we must acknowledge our 
helplessness." Yet Mr. Lewes would study brain- 
molecules exclusively while laboring to solve the 
. oblems of Life and Mind — that is, study Matter to 
understand the Mind. By this arbitrary and arti- 
ficial method of argument the questions of Vitality 
and Spirit, with all their vast and absorbing interests, 
* " Physical Basis of Mind," page 384. 



150 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

have been pressed into material channels for solu- 
tion. Biology has been made but another name 
for physiology and for animal and vegetable chem- 
istry. 

Strange as it may seem, Yitalists, with scarcely an 
exception, have been drawn into this maelstrom of 
Materialism, and they have emphatically injured the 
cause they labored to advance. Unconsciously they 
surrendered when they consented to unite with Mate- 
rialists, and make the question of Vitality a question 
of physiology. They have studied a question of 
Matter, and flaunted in our faces the results as the 
solution of the problems of Life and Mind. Assum- 
ing that only material substances were objects of 
knowledge, all phenomena have been regarded as 
having a material origin, and the relation which one 
organ sustains to another and to the whole body, has 
been the sole end of all their vast researches. This 
account of the relation of material organs they call a 
solution of the great vital and mental problem ! 

But we hold that Mind is the man proper, and 
demand for its existence and properties a separate 
and special investigation. The slightest organic con- 
nection between Mind and Matter forming a unit, 
cannot be tolerated for a moment till the fact is dem- 
onstrated. Such task will not be undertaken by Prof. 
Tyndall. He says : " The mechanical philosopher, as 
such, will never place a state of consciousness and 
a group of molecules in the relation of mover and 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 151 

moved. In passing from the one to the other we 
meet a blank which the logic of deduction is unable 
to fill." 

We have seen, in chapter third, that the body- 
builder is its Life, and that body and its Life are 
correlated to each other. Mind is primarily related 
to, and associated with, the Life of the body, and 
through this Life it reaches the organism. From the 
relation of Mind and Life springs voluntary muscular 
action. A closer connection between Mind and Mat- 
ter cannot be traced than that here indicated. 

§ 8. Further False Reasoning. 

As Materialists are required by the mechanics of 
Matter to translate " mental qualities" into supposed 
" material quantities," it is not strange that they hold, 
the discussion down among protoplasts, protozoons, 
the algae, amaebe, mollusks, rhizopods, fishes and frogs ; 
for apparently the gap between a jelly-fish and a 
mass of jelly is not very great, and possibly it may 
be bridged over. But to pass from a clod to a Napo- 
leon at a step, is a hazardous undertaking. Material- 
ists find it a dizzy leap, and, therefore, they make use 
of but few illustrations taken from the more firmly 
organized animals, and least of all from man, the 
head and front of creation. A worm inspires, but 
the thought of a Mind chills and paralyzes their ge- 
nius. To ignore the study of Mind and its mighty 
achievements as much as possible, is a mode of reason- 



152 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

ing which has in it a suspicious look. Materialists 
turn away from a strong light, as if it dazzled their 
eyes, and often for truth they appear to substitute 
the grossest absurdities. If in our presence they will 
" translate mental qualities into mathematical quanti- 
ties," then chemically analyze the "quantities," we 
will believe that at its base their philosophy is not 
all nonsense. 

On mechanical principles Prof. Tyndall can account 
for the formation of crystals, but that does not au- 
thorize him at a single bound to reach the conclusion 
that a stalk of corn is formed by the action of the 
same law, or at a second bound, with no force in the 
field but that which formed a crystal of snow, quartz, 
or salt, to account for man, and the whole vegetable 
and animal creations. 

Like Mr. Tyndall, we experience changing "moods," 
and often our studies of the mysteries of existence 
plunge us into depressing doubts, and plague us with 
problems we cannot solve. Having exhausted the 
strength of our humble powers on the great problem 
of human Life to no purpose, we go to Dr. Tyndall 
for help, who, in addition to being a brilliant philos- 
opher, is endowed with poetic insight, and interrogate 
him as follows : " What am I ? and what my endow- 
ments ? How came I here? and what is my destiny?" 
He sees that I am in trouble, and his great warm 
heart shares in my sorrow. A sort of inspiration 
comes upon him, as if he felt, in all its fullness, the 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 153 

power of his philosophy, and had perfect confidence 
that it was adequate to the wants of yearning human- 
ity. He replies : " Sir, you have done well to come 
to me with your trouble. A philosopher should be a 
generous benefactor of Ids race, else his superiority 
to the vast herd of human kind, together with his 
science and knowledge, would be of no practical 
value, and there would be reason to discredit their 
intrinsic truth. 

" The matters you suggest I have pondered for 
nearly half a century ; indeed, I have made them a 
specialty, and am prepared to give you the required 
information. There is, sir, in operation among the 
atoms and molecules of Matter what we may call a 
crystallogenic law, and, under suitable conditions, it 
is ceaselessly active in building up structural bodies. 
The diamond, the ruby, the amethyst, the chalcedony, 
the agate, the quartz rock, snow-flake, and, often, 
sugar, alum, and other substances are wrought into 
mathematically exact and beautiful forms by its op- 
eration. In your body, sir, there are about twelve 
kinds of Matter, and in its formation we witness the 
highest development of this law. It is marvelous 
that oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, sulphur, 
phosphorus, magnesium, potassa, calcium, chlorine, 
sodium, iron, and a few other substances should be 
wrought into the millions of strings and tubes and 
posts and levers that compose the human body ; but 
we see in this fact, and in the further stupendous fact 



154 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

that the Matter of this body lives and reasons, the 
power that is lodged in the law of crystallization. 
You are now a crystalline structure, but the work in 
your case was not very substantially done. As the 
warm sun melts the snow-flake and destroys its mech- 
anism, so we all, under the frosts of a few years of 
time, do fade as a leaf, and return back to dust again. 
Still there is hope ; for, in the future, our scattered 
dust may be wrought into permanent rock, or into 
the oak, which may last a thousand years. Sir, your 
questions are fully answered." 

Such is the fullness of the consolation I receive 
from this apostle of the gospel of dirt. " Religious 
feeling," says Mr. Tyndall, " is as much a verity as 
any other part of human consciousness ; and against 
it, on the subjective side, the waves of science beat in 
vain." And yet the boasted positive philosophy, the 
deepest and widest in its sweep the genius of man 
ever gave to the world, can provide for it neither 
food, stimulant, nor direction, except what is con- 
tained in the forces of Matter. Apart from this dirt 
all is nonentity, or an " insoluble mystery ! " 

§ 9. To Know Man, the Mind itself must be Studied. 

The truism has been stated that, to be understood, 
mental and vital facts must be examined in the light 
of their own properties, forces, and phenomena. The 
intrusion of any thought of Matter or of its forces, 
but confuses the Mind and obscures the subject. The 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 155 

study of a railway track and a train of cars would 
give but an indefinite idea of an engine ; it would 
rather mislead than properly direct the Mind. We 
may learn something of the scope of vital forces 
by the study of organic bodies, providing we regard 
the organisms as results. We may also learn some- 
thing of the forces of Mind by the study of what it 
has done in sculpture, painting, and poetry. The 
statue of Jupiter was a reflection of the full or best 
genius of Phydias, and the " Iliad " may be regarded 
as an incarnation of the soul of Homer. In his 
dramas may be seen the ideal universe in which the 
soul of Shakespeare lived, moved, and had its being. 
" Paradise Lost," as a creation of the genius of Mil- 
ton, is a transcript of his mental and moral structure. 
The Pyramid Cheops existed ideally in the mind of 
some engineer before the hands of slaves began to 
pile the hewn stones one upon another. Solomon's 
Temple existed in some architect's brain while yet the 
stones that were to form it slept undisturbed in the 
mountain. 

The work of hands, hammer, and chisel are grovel- 
ing compared to the creations and conceptions of 
genius. At best the organs of the body are but the 
servants of the Mind. Mind rules the man, and rules 
the world, either for weal or woe, and forms a part of 
the intellectual universe. The eternity and unchange- 
ableness of a universe of truth is the counterpart of 
the Mind, for which it exists. 



156 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

To know one's self is to know humanity, ^for a 
human Life and a human Mind are common to our 
order of beings. Because of his consummate knowl- 
edge of humanity Shakespeare has stood as a delin- 
eator of character, without a peer among men, for 
three hundred years. Whence came his consummate 
knowledge of human life % Anatomy, physiology, 
biology, and physics, as sciences, were scarcely 
known in his day, and had he been master of the 
materialistic philosophy of modern times, and built 
his dramas upon that foundation, what would have 
been their character ? Instead of living men and 
women such as real humanity every-where presents 
to our view — some visible and some shadowy forms, 
nevertheless, real — we should have been treated to 
crystalline organisms of Matter, to " mathematical 
quantities " of thought and feeling, measured by 
the cubic inch or foot, or by the pound, yard, or 
mile. 

So far as the real man we know is concerned, this 
vaunting school of science has added not an iota to 
our stock of knowledge. 

Shakespeare obtained his consummate knowledge 
of humanity by close observation, and by the study of 
man as a Mind endowed with intelligence, will, and 
emotion, in the clear and unerring light of his own 
consciousness. His own breast was the laboratory in 
which humanity was dissected and analyzed. His 
conceptions of man were not befogged by thinking of 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 157 

liim as an " aspect of Matter," nor as a substance which 
by " fits " was " two-sided," nor as " the synthesis of 
an organism," nor as the mere "resultant" of a self- 
made organism. In his judgment the Mind was the 
man, and the body " the mortal coil soon to be shuf- 
fled off." The dramas of Shakespeare could not have 
been written nor applauded in an atmosphere of Ma- 
terialism, any more than the fruitage of the tropics 
could spring into life and flourish amid the ice and. 
snows of the polar seas. 

Should the Materialistic philosophy gain the ac- 
ceptance of mankind, our conceptions of Life, of 
humanity, and of destiny would be such as to 
render obsolete the Bible, " Paradise Lost," " Pil- 
grim's Progress," the works of Shakespeare, Dante, 
Goethe, the " Iliad," the " iEneid," and every other 
work of genius in existence ; or they would be 
read as the curious, crazy ravings of maniacs about 
nonentities. 

But of such a result there is no danger. In order 
to immortality a literature must be a glass in which 
humanity is truly portrayed. We never cease to be 
interested in ourselves ; and when we see, objectively, 
the play of our own thoughts and feelings in philos- 
ophy, psychology, poetry, paintings, sculpture, or any- 
where else, the characters therein set forth, we recog- 
nize and acknowledge them as kindred, friends, or 
foes. Through them we, in a way, play a part upon 
the stage of human action. Such a literature is read 



158 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

from age to age, and never grows old, for it con- 
tains the true sympathetic breathings of our common 
humanity. 

These vital elements cannot be infused into a ma- 
terialistic literature, and without them it must die. 
The mechanical philosophy of Tyndall and his school 
is the negative of the humanity portrayed by Shakes- 
peare — a foil of the truthful impression of the die — 
and for that reason the poet will be read long after 
these philosophers are all forgotten. 

§ 10. The Sufficiency of our Argument. 

In this chapter we have met Materialism in its 
stronghold, namely, the uniform connection, so far 
as our observation extends, which subsists between 
thinking and organized Matter — such as may demand 
the display of a visible Thinker without an organiza- 
tion, put on exhibition as one might exhibit a horse, 
will not deem our argument conclusive. The fault, 
however, is not in the argument, but the nature of 
the problem makes the demand itself an absurdity. 
Undoubted mental and vital effects, made manifest 
directly to consciousness, or by the use of material 
organs, is the utmost that the case admits. To the 
one who will exhibit an entity of Matter we will 
exhibit the Mind. We have pointed out the proof 
of the existence of a Something which, in an imma- 
terial way, acts upon Matter, controlling and co-ordi- 
nating its forces ; also as existing above and beyond 



Mind, as Man, Identified in the Body. 159 

the forces of Matter, and, to this extent, independent 
of it ; and if these agencies are not Life and Mind, 
they are something else. What ? 

Our approach to the Mind has been nearer than 
can be made to the unit or entity of Matter. The 
atom is removed from our senses more than two 
thousand times its diameter ; but consciousness di- 
rectly touches and grasps the Self, and knows it by the 
only method by which such knowledge is possible. 
To demand a visible Thinker without an organiza- 
tion, is to assume that the Mind is a mass of Matter, 
for only such an object can our senses recognize. 

To do full justice to the powers of the Mind, our 
psychologists should articulate and emphasize more 
fully the nature and validity of intellectual discern- 
ments. Fancy and imagination are given us that 
the Mind may picture the thousand reals of nature 
which exist outside the range of the senses ; and what 
is commenced in sense the logic of reason should 
finish. 

The atoms of Matter, Life, Mind, Spirit, God, and 
all substance, per se, are matters of intellectual dis- 
cernment. The eye, in fact, is only a limited help 
to the Mind in discerning the real and the true in 
masses of Matter; and yet we allow its limited and 
imperfect vision to overshadow and belittle and limit 
the visions of the Mind. Mental phenomena, as 
presented to consciousness, form a group of realities 
so peculiar and so utterly non-material in all their 



160 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

functions, tliat the nations and ages have perceived 
in them the Mind-man. If sense is allowed to usurp 
the throne of Intellect, Materialism is the only empire 
we can recognize ; but with the Mind supreme we 
apprehend without the aid of the senses the vital 
and intellectual realms, and with them the universe 
in its highest forms. 



Mlnd Sele-Revealed in its Faculties. 1G1 



CHAPTER V. 

MIND SELF-REVEALED IN ITS FACULTIES AND POWERS. 

"By the Mind of man we understand that in him which perceives, 
thinks, remembers, reasons, wills." — Reid. 

" It is as rational to affirm there is no body because we have no 
clear and distinct idea of the Substance of Matter, as to say there is 
no Spirit because we have no clear and distinct idea of the Substance 
of a Spirit." — Locke. 

§ I. Mind a self-centered Substance, and the Cause of 
Mental Phenomena. 

WHATEVER, exists as substance or being, pos- 
sesses attributes and forces which constitute it 
a self-centered cause ; and the supposed existence of 
being without properties is a mere fancy, and implies 
nonentity. The properties of substance constitute its 
only and necessary mode of existence. 

By rigorous analysis we propose to subject Mind 
to this severe test of reality. In its personality we 
expect to find powers which distinguish it from all 
other parts of the universe, and constitute it a true 
individual personal self. "We shall make no attempt 
to touch the essence of its being, yet the fact of its 
existence will be brought as fully into the field of ob- 
servation as the nature of the case will permit. 

The vital and material kingdoms, by an inexplic- 
able union, constitute the human body, and with this 
11 



162 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

wonderful structure we find associated, for a short 
time, the Intelligence known as man. Such is our 
conception of the Being presented for consideration. 

The close relationship which subsists between man's 
body and the material world is indicated by the fact 
that it is composed of thirteen of its most energetic 
and abundant elements. 

Vital effects, both vegetable and animal, manifested 
by and through this body, point with equal clearness 
to its place and relations as a part of the world of 
Life. In man is embodied three different kingdoms. 

As an Intelligence, capable of thought and moral 
feeling, Mind affords abundant proof of its kinship, 
not with Matter, but with a universe of ideas, duties, 
and responsibilities. 

Man, then, is a trinity of living existences related 
to each other, and associated with a human body. The 
dividing-line which separates the vegetable and the 
animal kingdom, and which expresses the most truth 
with fewest exceptions, is that which regards as vege- 
table all organisms that can derive nourishment from 
minerals ; while animal organisms, as a rule, are sensi- 
tive, and can subsist only upon vegetable or such like 
organisms. We can obtain in abundance the mineral 
substances which enter into the composition of bread, 
meats, and other articles of food ; but they cannot, 
mechanically, be so combined as to support any form 
of animal life. Nature's order seems to be, that the 
animate world is dependent upon the vegetable king- 



Musm Self Revealed in its Faculties. 1(33 

dom for sustenance, and that direct access to the 
bosom of mother earth is denied it. 

]STow man, of necessity, in eating, drinking, and 
breathing, receives freely into his system an abun- 
dance of mineral elements, and yet he suffers no 
injury from them ; and this fact can be explained 
only on the ground that the vegetable life-principle 
constitutes a part of the human organism, and, as an 
active agent, imparts to them the vegetable quality. 
They are thus brought within the reach of the ani- 
mate life-element, otherwise they would remain in 
the system as foreign and unassimilated substances. 

The whole organic man does not die at once. Long 
after the body has been laid in the grave the hair, as 
a vegetable product, continues to grow as when the 
body was animated by a higher form of Life. The 
presence of the vegetable life-principle may lie at the 
base of many other singular phenomena, such as ma- 
larial and contagious diseases, the action of the heart 
and muscles for some minutes after sensations have 
ceased, and the possible motion of the whole body 
by the use of galvanic currents. Mysterious as these 
phenomena are, they are never witnessed except in 
connection with animate organisms, and must be re- 
garded as in some sense vital. 

Man is, therefore, as we see him, not only a living 
being, but he is a combination of vital elements. 
As a sensitive creature, he stands at the head of the 
organic world. He is not an animal, but a human 



1G4 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

being, and a development of a proper sui generis 
human Life. In many respects the organism of a 
man may resemble closely that of some animals, but 
that fact does not authorize us to call him an animal ; 
for the reason that it is the Yital part, not the Matter, 
of the body — whether of the man, the horse, the ox, 
or the elephant — which differentiates living creatures 
from men and from each other ; and man is the pe- 
culiar being we find him to be, because the human life 
that animates him differs in essence and power from 
all other kinds of Life. 

The vegetable and animate kingdoms are separated 
by a gulf which neither can cross, because the one 
Life cannot become the other. Compare the bee 
with the flower from which it sips its honey, the ox 
with the grass on which it feeds, and human Life 
with any thing below it, and then inquire if it is pos- 
sible that these orders of being should ever change 
places. Human life is of the highest order, and it 
places man at the summit of vital existences. Not 
only each species and genus of the animal kingdom, 
but each individual, as patent to observation, is an 
outward expression of the peculiar properties and 
powers of an inward vital Substance. As the base 
and the cause of every organism, whether vegetable or 
animal, a special vital essence exists, and the differ- 
ences in the organic structures afford us onr best con- 
ceptions of the variety of kinds and orders of Life 
which compose, in the aggregate, the Yital world. 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 165 

I am aware that Descartes, though a Spiritist, re- 
garded the actions of brutes as automatic, and that in 
this opinion he is followed by Bishop It. S. Foster; 
and farther, that the scholarly Dr. McCosh denies to 
both animals and vegetables a vital principle, yet 
their judgment must be absolutely discarded, for the 
following reasons : (1.) The peculiar and various phe- 
nomena exhibited by vegetables and animals can be 
accounted for only on the assumption of the existence 
and agency of vital substances. What Foster and 
McCosh say about " carefully prepared " and " highly 
endowed " Matter is mere logomachy, and signifies 
nothing. All Matter, joer se, is absolutely perfect and 
unchangeable. Its endowments are always the same. 
(2.) If we deny Vitality as a substantive agency to the 
vegetable and animal kingdoms, it inevitably follows 
that Matter is capable of Self-organization. When 
fully persuaded that the Matter of the ground and 
of the air has gathered itself together, and wrought 
itself into the structure of a plant, of a worm, or the 
human brain, for one I shall admit that it can think 
and will and feel; in short, I shall surrender to Mate- 
rialism, for there is not left me an inch of ground on 
which I can stand. 

A single step upward from human Life brings us 
into contact with Mental phenomena, which must 
emanate directly from that Intelligence which we call 
Man. I for one am inclined to the opinion that the 
basal element of the Mind is a high and peculiar 



1G6 Matter. Life, and Mind. 

kind of Life, and that self-consciousness and the 
power to perceive, to think, and reason are its more 
conspicuous properties. This life and its mental prop- 
erties are a unit of Substance. Though such a view 
would not be a heresy, yet we must confess that the 
mental essence is inscrutable except in its activities. 

In this discussion the terms Mind, Soul, and Spirit 
may be used interchangeably, but as the word Mind 
invariably designates the Intelligence we call Man, 
and nothing else, and as the others are used by psy- 
chologists in a variety of senses, it is much to be 
preferred. 

We now stand face to face with the decisive ques- 
tion to be settled in each individual consciousness: 
Is Mind a Spirit Substance ? Is it a self-centered unit 
of being? Will the destruction of its associated or- 
ganism and its vitality touch or affect the Mind ? 
If Mind is no part of the body, nor of the Life of 
the body, but a self-centered unit, such fact is of the 
highest importance, and its phenomena ought to make 
its truthfulness manifest. It is evident that in plant- 
life and animal life Mind is absent, and yet these 
kinds of Life are absolutely perfect. In many cases 
of idiocy the absence or inactivity of Mind produces 
no apparent effect upon the organism, or life of 
the body. Our position is, that mental phenomena, 
which a fully-developed mind manifests, as well as 
the absence of such phenomena in cases of idiocy, 
demonstrates that the normal man is an Intelligence 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 167 

which, for the time being, holds intercourse with 
other Intelligences, and gains access to this material 
world mostly through a material organism ; and, 
further, that this Mind contains within itself the 
evidence of its existence as a self-centered unit. 

The mental Essence is a substance of intellectual 
discernment in others, and of personal consciousness 
in ourselves ; and a nearer approach to it is useless to 
attempt ; nor is it necessary, for here we find a solid 
foundation on which we can stand while we make a 
survey of its properties and faculties, their functions 
and powers. As in their own light we know that 
the sun and stars exist, so rays and gleams and Hoods 
of intellectual light demonstrate the existence and 
agency of the Mind substance. 

§ 2. Mind an Intelligence. 

In the action of Mind there is thought, will, and 
sensibility, and an examination of each will exhaust 
the subject, and give us a complete idea of the human 
Intelligence. 

The way is now open for a compact but complete 
treatise on Psychology, to which might be appended 
a system of Intellectual Philosophy ; but a brief ref- 
erence to the faculties of the Mind, their powers 
and functions, for the purpose of identifying it as a 
substantive agent, is all that is contemplated in this 
chapter. The Intellectual department will first re- 
ceive attention. 



1C8 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Consciousness of existence is the first and basal 
act of the Mind. The simple conscious thought, " I 
am," is an authoritative act of the Mind in regard to 
itself, and from this act all things else are excluded. 
It is Mind looking at itself and to its act, without 
regard to its relations. It denies nothing and af- 
firms nothing but the " I am," that is, its own exist- 
ence, and being conscious that what it says is true, 
a contrary consciousness cannot be realized. 

Mind is correlated to a universe of ideas, and hence 
the necessity that man should be a thinking being, 
and capable of grasping truth. Were Mind infinite 
in capacity, it would be capable of comprehending all 
truth at a glance; but its limited and slow moving 
powers imply that it can take but a limited range at 
best through the vast realm of what may be known. 
There is a class of truths which Mind perceives intui- 
tively, that is, stands face to face with them, and their 
verity can neither be proved nor denied. Their cer- 
tainty is so apparent that all other truths, facts, and 
arguments cannot increase it. The correlation of this 
class of ideas to the laws of thought is so exact and 
complete that it is as impossible for a doubt to arise in 
the Mind in regard to their verity as to its own exist- 
ence. It is an a priori, or self-evident truth, which 
can neither be proved nor denied, that two parallel 
lines, however far extended, will never meet ; that a 
part of a thing is less than the whole ; that the ego, 
which knows objects external to itself, knows its own 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 1G9 

body as one of those objects ; that the ego is a per- 
sistent entity, while all things around it are in a state 
of perpetual change ; that through the sense-organs 
it has access to an external world of reality ; that there 
may be true and valid mental processes, especially in 
the matters of perception and memory ; that every 
change or effect must have a cause, and a cause ade- 
quate to the effect, and that the same cause will inva- 
riably produce the same effect; that is, it is an a priori 
conviction or intuition of the Mind that uniformity 
characterizes the operation of the laws of nature. 

An intuition of these truths arises from the struct- 
ure of the Mind, and we believe them as a matter of 
necessity. Mr. Stewart says : " In all these cases the 
only account that can be given of our belief is, that 
it forms a necessary part of our constitution, against 
which Metaphysicians may argue so as to perplex the 
judgment, but of which it is impossible to divest our- 
selves for a moment when we are called to employ 
our reason, either in the business of life or in the 
pursuit of science." What is true now in the Mind's 
relation to ideas was true in the days of Aristotle. 
The great Stagy rite said : " Except some first prin- 
ciples be taken for granted there can be neither rea- 
son nor reasoning, . . . and that if ever men attempt 
to prove a first principle, it is because they are ig- 
norant of the nature of proof." * Such is the 
strength and grandeur of a self-revealed truth, that 
* " Metaphysics," book iv. 



170 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Mind, in its behalf, disdains the aid of all collateral 
support. 

In the days of the Schoolmen, and even since the 
time of Descartes, attempts have been made to buttress 
the a priori perceptions with proof and argument ; and 
because such illegitimate arguments were easily swept 
away, it was falsely inferred that the truth itself was 
logically overthrown. Still, however, they stand, and 
they will continue to hold their place in consciousness 
till the constitution of the Mind itself is changed. 

Thus Mind finds itself conscious not only of exist- 
ence, but that its place in the universe is in the realm 
of ideas. Its essence is to think, and, beginning with 
a consciousness of self and of those truths which are 
nearest and self-revealed, and which constitute the 
roots of all knowledge, it finds that means in abun- 
dance are afforded it for enlarging, indefinitely, the 
boundaries of its vision. 

§ 3. Sensation a Means of Knowledge. 

Sense-organs of wonderful and delicate construc- 
tion are furnished it, by and through which direct 
access is gained to an external world. 

A perfect sensation embraces a nervous thrill and 
an action of Mind, which, together, results in a pure 
mental perception. I bring the sense of taste into 
contact with a lemon, and a peculiar nerve is excited 
sharply thereby, and in that subjective feeling is the 
physical part of the sensation ; but my experience 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 171 

does not end here. Mind perceives that there must 
be a cause for the excitement of that nerve, and, fur- 
ther, that the cause is a certain quality possessed by 
the lemon-juice. I am at the same moment conscious 
both of the physical and mental parts of the sensa- 
tion, that is, of the sour taste and of the knowledge 
1 derive from it. Mind does not come in contact 
with the lemon-juice ; but in the sensorium it does 
come into direct contact with the impression this 
juice has made upon the nerve of taste. This knowl- 
edge thus derived we call a Perception, which is a 
pure intellection. 

In like manner Mind makes use of all the senses in 
scanning a universe of Matter, its properties, forces, and 
motions. In every case it sits in judgment upon the 
impressions made upon the sense; and such is the uni- 
formity of the laws of Nature, that their significance 
is soon learned and seldom forgotten. The same 
nerve-sensation always results in the perception of 
the same cause. Consciousness perceives the sense- 
impression and that which produces it at the same 
moment, and, together, they form a unit of experi- 
ence. 

These senses would not be dormant or useless even 
if to their action were given physical limitations. 
Nervous irritations will set the body in motion, even 
where there is no active Mind, as in cases of the soft- 
ening of the brain, to give it direction. The new- 
born infant, probably, receives its first food as the 



172 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

result of nervous irritation. Start the frog in the 
water whose cerebral brain has been removed, and 
the consequent irritation of the nerves of its body 
and legs will keep it moving in a direct line till its 
strength is exhausted, or, till it comes into contact 
with some object that arrests its progress. 

But the sense-organs, with Mind back of them to 
use them, present a different aspect. The fires of 
thought flash from the eye; through the ear Mind 
drinks in floods of harmony ; and each separate de- 
partment of nature is explored through the sense 
channel which gives Mind access to it. As a conse- 
quence, a vast number of facts are accumulated, pre- 
senting to the Mind an incredible amount of hetero- 
geneous and partially-understood subjects. If the 
powers of Mind were limited to its intuitive percep- 
tions of truth, these would constitute man an exalted 
being ; but they serve simply as the base on which 
other truths of an equal, if not a higher, order are built. 

§ 4. Province of Reason. 

Intuitions and perceptions which have not been 
subjected to analysis and classification are but the 
crude material which must be taken up by Reason 
and wrought into systems of truth ; and then they 
may properly receive the high appellation of Knowl- 
edge, Science, or Philosophy. 

In handling its intuitions and perceptions, Mind 
finds within itself a depository in which the thoughts, 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 173 

observations, and experiences of the past are stored, 
called Memory, and in a few cases this faculty pos- 
sesses a marvelous retentive capacity. Ordinarily, if 
Mind give close attention to a fact or a subject, the 
memory is retentive ; if the attention is faint and 
brief, the memory is weak. But in an active, healthy 
Mind, such is the grasp of memory that not much is 
forgotten, beyond recall, which is of value in argu- 
ment, or in the practical affairs of life. 

As a further preliminary to reasoning, Mind pos- 
sesses imagination, the re-creating power to form 
conceptions. A picture, a landscape, a friend may 
have been absent for long years, and yet Mind can 
form conceptions of them, and see them as they were. 
A conception is not always a correct picture of real- 
ity, but it is a help to the Reason in arriving at a 
correct understanding of complex and related things. 

It is necessary that Mind examine separately and 
severally all the elements and properties which enter 
into a compound substance, or a compound propo- 
sition ; hence it is invested with the power of ab- 
straction, which opens the way for analysis, and soon, 
one by one, all the individual elements of the case 
receive the concentrated scrutiny of the Mind. It is 
found that a heterogeneous mass is made up of a 
score of unrelated units ; and Mind could proceed no 
further were it not that it has the ability to classify, 
and classification leads to generalization, the final 
resting-place of the Mind. When possessed of a fact, 



174 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

in which is included all the facts in the universe 
of a class, nothing more is wanted, and Mind is 
content. 

Thus starting with a full complement of intuitive 
ideas, Mind perceives itself locally in the midst of a 
universe of truths, and, by analysis and abstraction, 
each fact, each thing, and each property of every fact 
and thing is subjected to careful examination, and 
Reason concludes this process of forming a correct 
judgment by classifying the units, putting them in 
their proper relations, and generalizing the whole. 
Such are the necessary and uniform steps taken by 
Mind in every process of reasoning, namely, Intuition 
of basal ideas, Perception, Memory, Conception or 
Imagination, Abstraction, Analysis, Classification, In- 
duction, and Generalization. 

The field of action given to Mind for the exercise 
of these powers is practically infinite ; and the great- 
ness of the Mind may be inferred from the place it 
holds and from the character of the work assigned it, 
in the plan of nature. The limits of its own estate 
it cannot pass, nor can any thing below it invade its 
province. Mind acts upon Ideas, and Ideas act upon 
Mind as sharply as one mass of Matter acts upon 
another ; but between Mind and Ideas on the one 
hand, and Matter on the other, there is no relation- 
ship nor possible contact. Not even can the senses 
touch an Idea any more than blocks or stones ; they 
can but share in sensations. 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 175 

Let us, as spectators, attend the Mind during some 
of its labors, excursions, and flights in the realm of 
truth, as illustrative fragments of its operation. One 
Trumber Henry Safford, recently a resident of Chi- 
cago, was examined at the age of thirteen by Rev. 
Mr. Adams, of Vermont, in Algebra and the higher 
mathematics. The problems given were complex and 
very difficult, but were resolved mentally, and gener- 
ally on the instant. For the purpose of testing his 
ability at computation, he was asked to multiply in 
his mind, without the aid of pen or pencil, 365,365, 
365,365,365,365, by 365,365,365,365,365. It is said 
that the Mind in its supreme action so agitated the 
body that it danced about the room like a top ; that 
his hands pulled his pantaloons over the tops of his 
boots ; that his eyes rolled in their sockets ; that he 
bit himself, and in one minute gave the product : 
133,491,850.208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225. A 
full account of this giant labor of Mind was given 
to the public by Rev. Abel Stevens at the time it oc- 
curred, and of its truthfulness there can be no doubt. 
Think of the memory of Cyrus and Mithridates, who 
knew every man of their vast armies by name ; or of 
the mental ability which, on hearing read a poem or 
an act of Parliament of considerable length, could, 
from memory, repeat every word of it. The "Iliad" 
will remain for all time to come a monument of the 
vast genius which created it. The minds which 
inspired the tragedies of Shakespeare and the match- 



176 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

less epic "Paradise Lost," must have lived and had 
their being almost exclusively in the world of 
thought. 

§ 5. Relation of Sense and Reason. 

Though Mind and Sense-organs often act in con- 
cert, yet the part each performs is so peculiar that 
we have no difficulty in distinguishing one from the 
other; that is, a nerve-thrill from a thought of the 
Mind. Apparently the sun is visible to the eye of 
the spectator, and if I ask this seeing organ to tell me 
its magnitude, it may be supposed to reply : " The 
sun is a bright, light-giving substance, an indefinite 
distance away, and has a varying diameter of from 
one to two feet." I appeal to the Mind of this spec- 
tator, and ask its opinion. It does not venture a 
guess, but from mathematics weaves a measuring-line, 
and by its use ascertains its exact magnitude. It then 
responds : ." The sun's diameter is 850,000 miles ; its 
circumference is about 2,550,000 miles ; and it is 
1,400,000 times as large as the earth." 

"Then why is it apparently so small?" inquires 
the astonished eye. 

Mind answers : " The sun is 93,393,000 miles dis- 
tant from us ; and the farther an object is from the 
eye the less is its apparent magnitude : but with the 
Mind's action space, time, and distance do not intrude 
as factors to obscure thought, or in any way affect its 
action." 



Mind Self- Revealed in its Faculties. 177 

I then ask this spectator to turn his eye upon the 
star Vega, and tell me its magnitude. It replies : 
" Yega is a star about as large as a small sparkling 
lamp, and seems to be as far away, as the sun." 

I then submit this question to Intellect. Its math- 
ematical line is again called into requisition, and all 
the facts in the case are gathered together ; idea is 
added to idea, equation follows equation, and, after a 
long and laborious process of thinking and figuring it 
decides that Vega is fifty times as large as the sun — 
more than four millions of miles in diameter, and 
200,000 times, or 18,600,000,000,000,000 of miles 
from that orb, and that it is slowly moving toward 
us. To illustrate the idea of such vast magnitude, 
Mint! says : " Could I make an examination of all 
sections of the earth's surface in one hundred years, 
I should require seven millions of years to make a 
like examination of the star Vega." 

But I am anxious to know the composition of the 
sun and stars. Do they contain such substances as 
form the earth? Do common elements of union exist 
between distant worlds, and is the universe controlled 
by one set of laws ? These questions I find are out- 
side the range of all the senses, and they can make no 
response. I summon Mind to the front, and call for 
an answer. It is not ready, and asks for time to 
think — to reason. It soliloquizes: " To answer these 
questions the sunbeams and star-rays must be made 

to speak ; they must tell from whence they came, and 
12 



178 . Matter, Life, and Mind. 

what they left behind them. Mind then ingeniously 
invents an instrument it calls a spectroscope, and 
with this analyzes the sun's and star's rays, and com- 
pels them to tell the nature of the substances which 
compose the orbs from whence they came. It then 
gives answer: "I find that the sun and all the other 
heavenly bodies I have had time to examine are com- 
posed, in part at least, of the same kinds of elements 
which enter into the composition of the earth. The 
hydrogen of our bodies does not differ from the hy- 
drogen of the sun. In the carbon, iron, oxygen, and 
sulphur of our bodies we enjoy a sort of kinship with 
the most distant stars." 

§ 6. Triumphs of Intellect. 

It is thus that Mind explores a universe of things, 
facts, verities, and principles, which it only can 
grasp ; and does not its action proclaim its exalted 
nature ? 

Some years ago two philosophers, one English, the 
other French, noticed at the same time a slight per- 
turbation in the motion of the planet Uranus while 
passing a certain part of its orbit. Here is a mani- 
fest disturbance in the heavens, nearly three billions 
of miles away, and Mind, in the indulgence of its un- 
dying propensity to understand things, must solve the 
problem, if possible. All the facts which can possibly 
enter into the case are collected together, their force 
and bearing are developed according to mathematical 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 179 

laws, and the conclusion is finally readied that at 
such a place in space, and at such a distance from 
Uranus, there exists a hitherto unknown world, 
whirling its way through space around the sun outside 
of Uranus. Instructions were sent to the managers 
of the various observatories to turn their telescopes 
upon such a spot in the heavens, at such an hour of the 
night, for there, they were told, they would behold 
the new-found planet : though the eye of no man had 
seen it, no Mind had grasped it. It was thus that 
two minds, without concert, found the planet Nep- 
tune, slowly moving in an orbit around the sun, at a 
distance of 2,700,000,000 of miles distant from that 
orb. How brilliant this achievement of Mind! Mind, 
ranging alone billions of miles through space in search 
of an unknown and unheard-of world, finds it, and 
shows it to us! 

If the gap is deep and wide and impassable be- 
tween the vegetable and animal worlds, it is equally 
so, if not far greater, between the animal and intel- 
lectual natures. The space between the living, but 
unthinking, flower and the mighty thought-grasping 
Mind approximates infinity. Mind is, slowly but 
surely, achieving a triumph over Matter. It is tam- 
ing and harnessing to the car of progress the strong- 
est elements and wildest forces of Matter. In the 
use of nitro -glycerine and the electric spark it is 
capable of developing a force, either for good or ill, 
that rivals the power of the volcano; it commands 



180 Mattee, Life, and Mind. 

the lightnings as the boy toys with his Christmas 
gifts; and so completely have the forces of steam been 
utilized that they do our hard labor, and, against 
wind, waves, and tides, propel our palatial ships 
around the world! 

Nature is a vast workshop of various departments 
and various workmen. Inorganic Matter is the stock 
taken by vegetable vital elements as the workmen, 
and wrought into organic bodies of the vegetable 
kind ; vital elements of a higher order now appear, 
and using vegetable organisms as their stock, they 
give us a kingdom of moving, sensitive animals. 
Each of these two kingdoms has a base and laws of 
its own separate and distinct from the other. Though 
closely connected, neither one is in any sense the ori- 
gin or cause of the other. In the midst of this vast 
and complex scene Mind appears, and, seeing itself so 
unlike every thing else, inquires : " What am I ? and 
what are these worlds that surround me ? " A chaos 
of truths, facts, ideas arises, and Mind finds that it is 
its province to perceive, to retain, to arrange, to clas- 
sify, and to bring order out of and throw light over 
this chaos. As a store-house of ideas, Mind finds that 
its capacity is vast and never exhausted, and that it 
can use any part of its supply at pleasure. Often it 
is away among stars, planets, distant portions of the 
earth, and there is no weariness to its discursive wing ; 
but quite as often its habit is to retire from the sen- 
sorium, abandoning the use of the senses, and work 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. ' 181 

out great problems alone in its own hidden sanctuary. 
The more completely Mind is isolated from the 
senses and all outward objects the more efficiently 
it acts in the pure realm of ideas. 

§ 7. Unconscious Mental Action. 

In sleep, in protracted seasons of trance, and in 
certain cases of disease, the body seems to be without 
thought, but, as the sequel proves, Mind is at its post, 
and often very actively at work; but its work is done 
by itself, away from the sensorium and from con- 
sciousness. In the chain of thought which is brought 
to light there has been long and laborious action ; 
this action and these thoughts are phenomena, and we 
are rigorously compelled to regard the Mind as their 
active cause. 

Sir Benjamin Brodie says : " It seems to me as if 
there were in the Mind a principle of order, which 
operates without our being at the time conscious of 
it. It has often happened to me to have been occu- 
pied by a particular subject of inquiry ; to have 
accumulated a store of facts connected with it ; but 
to have been able to proceed no further. Then, after 
an interval of time, without any addition to my stock 
of knowledge, I have found the obscurity and con- 
fusion in which the subject was originally enveloped 
to have cleared away, the facts have all seemed to 
settle themselves in their right places, and their mu- 
tual relations to have become apparent, although I 



182 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

have not been sensible of having made any distinct 
effort for that purpose." 

With its supply of accumulated facts Mind retires 
from the sensorium for their consideration. Every 
thinker can relate similar experiences by the dozen, 
and it may be accepted as a fact, that unconscious 
mental action is common to mankind. If, then, 
without the co-operation of the Will, and without 
the recognition of Consciousness, the Intellect can 
reason, such process of thinking, however long pro- 
tracted, can have but the slightest connection with 
cerebral or nervous action. In laughter, in weeping, 
and some other emotional expressions, physical and 
mental actions seem to be closely connected, but in 
abstract reasoning they seem to be equally remote. 
The facts in this case will justify a still stronger 
statement. The senses may be occupied with exter- 
nal objects, and a measure of attention may be given 
to them ; but there is going on an under-current of 
clear, logical thinking that we are not conscious of at 
the time. The Reason has got hold of a subject, and 
it can be called off only by a sudden wrench and a 
persistent effort. Thus the cerebrum at times is a 
workshop in which the Mind quietly and silently car- 
ries on its work until completed and the result is an- 
nounced to Consciousness. A writer in the " British 
Quarterly Review " affirms that Charlotte Bronte 
sometimes remained for weeks together unable to com- 
plete one of her stories. Then some morning, on wak- 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 183 

ing up, the progress of the tale would be clear and 
bright in the distant vision before her. A pathway 
had been found and explored, but Intellect made no 
report of its labors till they were completed. There 
was no conscious physical participation in what had 
been done. Could such labor be carried on by the 
Matter of the brain, and no impression be made upon 
its ganglia of nerves? This is but one of the hard 
facts Materialists have to meet and remove. 

The following extract from a letter to a friend is 
Sir William Hamilton's account of his great mathe- 
matical discovery of the method of quaternions: 

" To-morrow will be the fifteenth birthday of the 
quaternions. They started into life and light full 
grown on the 16th of October, 1843, as I came up to 
Brougham Bridge (while walking with Lady Ham- 
ilton). That is to say, I then felt the galvanic current 
of thought close ; and the sparks which fell from it 
were the fundamental equations between i, j, k ex- 
actly such as 1 have used them ever since. I pulled 
out on the spot a note-book — which still exists — and 
made an entry on which, at the very moment, I felt 
that it might be worth my while to expend the labor 
of at least ten (or, it might be, fifteen) years to come. 
But then it is fair to say, that this was because I felt 
a problem to have been that moment solved, an intel- 
lectual want relieved, which had haunted me at least 
fifteen years before." 

The phenomena here detailed is inexplicable on a 



184 Matter, Life, and Mend. 

materialistic basis. Without conscious action on the 
part of Sir William, while walking with his wife, and 
engaged in a chatty conversation with her, the Intel- 
lect, the ever-busy inner Man, arrests him, crying, 
" Eureka, Eureka ! " — " I've found it, I've found it ! " 
He stops, looks at it, and, sure enough, in a mo- 
ment, when otherwise employed, he is presented the 
great truth for which he had searched fifteen years ! 
There must be something in man that thinks, and 
that thinking cannot be performed by unconscious, 
nervous Matter. On the hypothesis that man is a 
Mind, dwelling in a house of clay, such phenomena 
are stripped of their mysteries. 

" Littell's Living Age " quotes the following inci- 
dent from the " Quarterly Review: " 

" The first form of the binocular microscope " 
(which gives the effect of solidity by an application 
of the principle of combination of two perspectives, 
discovered by Wheatstone) "labored under the dis- 
advantage of considerable loss of light in producing 
the desired result. It could also be used only as a 
binocular. Mr. Wenham endeavored to devise a 
method by which only a single prism being used, the 
first evil might be remedied, and by the withdrawal 
of the prism the second disability removed. He 
thought of this long, but could not hit upon the 
form of prism which would satisfy the conditions, 
and laid his microscopical studies entirely on one 
side. About a fortnight afterward, " while reading a 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 185 

stupid novel," as he said, "the form of the prism that 
would answer the purpose flashed into my mind. I 
at once drew a diagram, and worked out the mathe- 
matical conditions, and the next day constructed the 
prism, which answered perfectly well, and furnished 
the type upon which all binoculars in ordinary use 
have been constructed." 

The following extract from W. B. Carpenter's 
" Mental Physiology" (pp. 515, 516) is worthy of 
attention. His use, in part, of a materialistic termi- 
nology need not give alarm, as language cannot ob- 
scure such facts as he clearly brings to light. He 
says : 

" Having found reason to conclude that a large 
part of our Intellectual activity, whether it consists 
in reasoning processes or in the exercise of the Imag- 
ination, is essentially automatic, and may be described 
in physiological language as the reflex action of the 
cerebrum, we have, next, to. consider whether this 
action may not take place unconsciously. To affirm 
that the cerebrum may act upon impressions trans- 
mitted to it, and may elaborate intellectual results, 
such as we might have attained by the intellectual 
direction of our Minds to the subject, without any 
consciousness on our part, is held by many Meta- 
physicians, more especially in Britain, to be alto- 
gether, and even a most, objectionable doctrine. But 
this affirmation is only the physiological expres- 
sion of a doctrine which has been current among the 



186 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Metaphysicians of Germany from the time of Leib- 
nitz to the present day, and which was systematically 
expounded by Sir William Hamilton, that the Mind 
may undergo modifications, sometimes of very con- 
siderable importance, without being itself conscious 
of the process until its results present themselves to 
the consciousness in new ideas, or new combinations 
of ideas, which the process has evolved. This uncon- 
scious cerebration, or latent mental modification, is 
the precise parallel in the higher sphere of cerebral or 
mental activity to the movements of our limbs, and 
the direction of these movements through our visual 
sense which we put in train volitionally, when we set 
out on some habitually- repeated walk, but which then 
proceeds not only automatically, but unconsciously, so 
long as our attention continues to be uninterruptedly 
directed from them. It was by reflection on this 
parallelism and on the peculiar structural relation of 
the cerebrum to the ganglionic tract which seems to 
constitute the sensorium, or center of consciousness, 
alike for the external and the internal senses, that the 
writer was led to the idea that cerebral changes may 
take place unconsciously, if the sensorium be either 
in a state of absolute torpor, or be for a time non- 
receptive as regards the changes, its activity being 
excited in some other direction ; or, to express the 
same fact psychologically, that mental changes of 
whose results we subsequently become conscious may 
go on below the plane of consciousness either during 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 187 

profound sleep or while the attention is wholly en- 
grossed by some entirely different train of thought." 

What Mr. Carpenter says in regard to the relation 
Mind sustains to the Matter of the brain is mere 
conjecture, for on that subject nothing whatever is 
known. His physiological statement of unconscious 
cerebral action may contain some truth, and it may 
not. His testimony that the Mind can act so ab- 
stractively from the body that there will be no con- 
sciousness of its action, touches the point we wish to 
emphasize in this discussion. 

The question, Does the Matter of the brain initiate 
thought, or is the Mind, in and of itself, capable of 
intellectual processes ? receives, from the above con- 
siderations, as full and decisive an answer as probably 
can be given to it. We can conceive how a man can 
walk automatically ; but if the action of the brain- 
nerves and thought are one and the same thing, or, 
in other words, if thought, will, and feeling are but 
the nerves or brain in a certain " state," as Mr. Bain 
teaches, we do not see how unconscious mental action 
can be possible. The supposition is as if one should 
be subject to serious nervous action, and yet not know 
it ; or purposely look at an object and yet not be con- 
scious of it. Unconscious abstract mental action can 
be accounted for only on the hypothesis that the 
Mind is in itself an entity, capable of self- direction. 
A state of reverie, a trance, sleep, somnambulism, and 
other like mental phenomena, might be adduced as 



188 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

illustrations of the same subject. The blaze of a 
lamp can exist only in close connection with the wick, 
but it seems that Mind exists, and carries on long 
reasoning processes, when no connection can be traced 
between it and the body. 

§ 8. The Will. 

Another clearly-defined element of the Mind is the 
Will, in which is neither thought nor feeling. The 
Will is that power of the Mind which decides what 
action shall be taken in a given case, when other ac- 
tion is possible. Between the wise and the unwise? 
the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, In- 
tellect must past judgment. What ought or ought 
not to be done will have the approval or disap- 
proval of conscience, but what action shall be taken 
in given alternatives is a matter of Will. 

The confusion and obscurity which the genius of 
Edwards has thrown around this question has been 
removed by the common sense of mankind, aided by 
the superior ability of Albert Bledsoe, Dr. D. D. 
Whedon, and others, and it is no longer difficult to 
give a correct definition of this faculty of the Mind. 
Edwards gave us as his conception of the Will the 
following shambling string of words, but one of 
which expresses a pure Will-power : " Whatever 
names we call the act of the Will by — choosing, re- 
fusing, approving, disapproving, liking, disliking, em- 
bracing, rejecting, determining, directing, command- 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. ISO 

ing, forbidding, inclining, or being averse, a being 
pleased or displeased with — all may be reduced to 
this of choosing." The word choose means, that 
we prefer one to a number of objects ; that is, 
judgment, not will, decides which is the best and the 
most desirable, and its decision is a matter of neces- 
sity. In such a case may be seen an action of Intel- 
lect and Sensibility, but it may be unlawful for us to 
touch the preferred and desired object, and, conse- 
quently, Will flatly refuses it. Choice, that is, an 
intellectual preference, may he one thing, and the 
action of the Will the opposite. Necessity is laid 
upon a hungry man to choose a loaf of bread to a 
crumb, but if to take the loaf would be to steal, and 
to take the crumb would be to use his own, the Will 
should decide to take the crumb, though it might de- 
termine to take the loaf. Pure Will power does not 
spring from judgment nor sensibility ; it has a basis 
of its own, and it performs a self-originated act ; for 
it is a proper subject, always acting in its own way 
in reference to its own objective. It can do no work 
but its own, and all the other powers of the Mind, 
united or separate, cannot do its work. Will is not 
only an agent, but it is the base of all human agency. 
A consciousness that we are endowed with Will 
power is the foundation of all moral responsibility. 
Will may be defined as that part of the Mind which 
is endowed with power to purpose one of two. or 
more acts at a given time, with no change of circum- 



190 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

stances ; or briefly : Will lias power to originate one 
of many possible acts at the same time. 

In the following expressions are embodied the action 
of pure Will : " I purpose," " I determine," " I in- 
tend," " I design," "I resolve," "I will." The expres- 
sions, " I desire," " I prefer," and " I choose," con- 
tain both intellectual and emotional elements, and lead 
to confusion, obscurity, and trouble when applied to the 
Will. By casting the w T ord choice out of the nomen- 
clature of human freedom, as embracing intellectual 
and emotional acts, we abolish, at a blow, the argument 
of the Necessitarian based upon the governing power of 
the strongest motive. It cannot be denied that man 
is compelled to prefer the best, and if that is an act 
of Will, he is not a free agent. 

The Will part of mind manifested its imperial 
authority in a memorable saying of Luther: "I shall 
attend the diet at Worms, although the devils there 
may be as thick as the tiles upon the roofs of the 
houses." Through the force of mere Will power 
savages have submitted to be tied to trees and roasted 
alive, and not a murmur was allowed to fall from 
their lips. All the mighty agonies the physical 
system could be made to endure were not equal in 
strength to the power of the Will. 

Nelson, Wellington, Napoleon, and Grant were 
quite as much indebted for their great successes to the 
steadiness and persistence of their Wills as to the brill- 
iancy of their Intellects. A Will that remains the 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 191 

same, though every thing about it may change or pass 
away, in dignity and grandeur, ranks with Reason 
itself. 

§ 9. Emotion as a Part of the Mind. 

Emotion or Feeling constitutes another and the 
final department of the human Mind. 

Conscience, as a moral Feeling, holds a conspicuous 
and commanding place in man's moral nature, giving 
a feeling of approval to the supposed right, and a 
feeling of condemnation to the supposed wrong ; but 
its full consideration must be deferred for the present. 
The more common and active emotions of the Mind 
are joy, grief, love, hate, desire, aversion, hope, fear, 
remorse, and despair. In emotion there is no 
thought nor Will power, nothing but pure Feeling. 
Emotion may be of the nature of a thrill, a warmth, 
a weight, a shade, or absolute darkness. The nervous 
system may experience a shock that will be responded 
to by the emotions of the Mind, and the two classes 
and kinds of feeling so mingle that the distinguish- 
ing line between them can scarcely be traced. In 
general Feeling is a necessity, and admits of but lim- 
ited control. 

Out of the emotions of Mind arise the sympathetic 
breathings of humanity. They constitute the foun- 
dation of the social and political structures of fam- 
ilies and tribes and nations. All the real living 
thoughts of practical life, the religious especially in- 
cluded, are crystallized into corresponding feelings, 



192 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

and thus preserved, they remain the most sacred part 
of man's being. Emotions, when nnperverted and 
pure, are authorized to speak for the heart as its 
living oracles, and their voice deserves the profound- 
est study of the Intellect. The spontaneity of their 
nature speaks, and its utterance is the voice of God. 

In the history of our race the emotional part of the 
Mind, far more than Intellect and Will together, has 
given character to human life and destiny. Man 
finds it easier to be wafted by a wave of emotion, 
than by the employment of cool reason to steer 
the ship against wind and tide. It matters not what 
most people may think or believe, when they come 
to act, their action is largely inspired and directed by 
feeling. 

Human feelings then, as objective realities, should 
receive the constant and profound consideration of 
the Intellect, for to know them is to know ourselves 
and to know our ra.ce. We can know others only so 
far as we know ourselves, and it is in a personal ex- 
perience of love, and joy, and pain, and sorrow that 
we are able to interpret the longest chapters of human 
history. 

The marvelous power of the Emotions may influ- 
ence, either for good or evil, both Intellect and Will. 
If properly developed and well regulated, their inspi- 
ration will give intensity to thought and light up the 
dark places of its pathway with its added rays. Will 
oftener yields to the power of depraved passions and 



Mind Self-Revealed in its Faculties. 193 

abnormal appetites than to the difficulties that may 
arise from without, but when the inward impulse of 
emotion accords with judgment and conscience, the 
Will rinds it an easy task to act in accordance with 
them. 

The Emotions are most easily reached through the 
sense-organs and the nervous system generally, and 
for that reason they have been regarded as the lower, 
the more earthly, and less important part of the 
Mind. But inasmuch as they answer perfectly the 
end of their existence, and as Mind would not be 
Mind without them, no mark of degradation or of 
inferiority should be placed upon them. 

Scarcely a day passes that the emotions do not 
serve as the educators of the Intellect, and in matters, 
too, which it could not otherwise understand. I had 
long been anxious to obtain a clear idea of the force 
developed by the motion of a long and heavily-laden 
freight train of cars as it swept along a down-grade 
at the rate of forty miles an hour. Various estimates 
and tests resulted unsatisfactorily. A knowledge of 
the tonnage and velocity of the train were only ideas 
in the Mind, and I could not put them together so 
as to realize the desired knowledge. I finally took 
a stand close by the track as an immense train thun- 
dered by. My steadiness of nerve and self-possession 
were tested to the uttermost, and in the sensations and 
emotions I felt, produced by the swirl and violent 

shocks of the atmosphere and the jar of the ground, 
13 



194 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

I obtained my clearest conceptions of this matter. 
By noticing the nervous shocks and the attendant 
emotions, the Intellect received, in some measure, 
the desired information. 

Dining our late war I was a visitor at Fort Gregg, 
when, with heavily -charged guns, the artillerymen 
were throwing shot and shell into the city of Charles- 
ton. It was a grand sight (to us) to see heavy masses 
of iron carried gracefully through the air a distance 
of five miles and dropped into the city. As I gazed 
upon the scene I was anxious to form a clear concept 
of the force developed by the exploded powder, 
which could carry the ponderous iron so far. As the 
artillerymen could render me no assistance, I pro- 
tected with cotton my ears as well as I could, and 
took my stand close by the gun at the time of its 
discharge. The first conscious sensation was that 
of crushing bewilderment ; then followed conscious 
thought of the reality ; gun and carriage and the 
ground seemed to be alive and in the air ; and on the 
whole, the concussion of the atmosphere gave my 
entire system, nervous and emotional, the severest 
shock it had ever experienced. As an aid to informa- 
tion I would not exchange that experience for all the 
facts and figures the engineer can bring to bear on 
this subject. 

In the same way, some years ago, I tried to measure 
the strength of Niagara Falls. I stood upon a rock 
which, at that time, rested on the brink of the prec- 



Mind Self Revealed in its Faculties. 195 

ipice just below where Terapin Tower once stood. 
Only persons of steady nerves would be safe for a 
moment in such a position. The near sight of the 
plunging waters, pounding each other before my eyes 
in the abyss below, the painful tremor of the earth, 
the roar of the cataract, the palpitation of the air, and 
all on a scale of surpassing grandeur, made an impres- 
sion upon my feelings that cannot be forgotten. I 
never think of Niagara without thinking of that ex- 
perience, and the one will not be forgotten till the 
other shall fade out of existence. 

Emotion is the source of human spontaneity, and 
to understand the heart is to know man as he is. 
Much that we see in life is artificial, much is the 
result of example and habit ; but below these in the 
emotions, the ever-open book of nature, we may see 
man as he really is. 

The Man, the Mind, the Intelligence, engaged in 
deep, protracted thought, with high, steady purpose 
and inspired by a flame of emotions, is before the 
reader. Is it not blasphemy to say he is but a clod \ 



196 Matter, Life, and Mlnd. 



CHAPTER VI. 

INTERACTION OF MIND AND BODY. 

" Socrates. In like manner, the lyrist, is he not different from the 
lyre he plays on ? 

Alcibiades. Undoubtedly. 

Socr. This, then, is what I asked you just now : Does not he who 
uses a thing seem to you always different from the thing used? 

Alcib. Very different. 

Socr. But the lyrist, does he use his instrument alone, or also his 
hands ? 

Alcib. Also his hands. 

Socr. He then uses his hands? 

Alcib. Yes. 

Socr. And in his work he uses also his eyes ? 

Alcib. Yes. 

Socr. We are agreed, then, that he who uses a thing and the thing 
used are different ? 

Alcib. Yes. 

Socr. The currier and lyrist are, therefore, different from the hands 
and eyes with which they work ? 

Alcib. So it seems. 

Socr. Now, then, does not a man use his whole body ? 

Alcib. Unquestionably. 

Socr. But we are agreed that he who uses, and that which is used, 
are different? 

Alcib. Yes. 

Socr. A man is, therefore, different from his body ? 

Alcib. So I think. 

Socr. What, then, is the man? 

Alcib. I cannot say. 
. Socr. You can at least say, that the man is that which uses the 
body ? 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 197 

Alcib. True. 

Socr. Now does any thing use the body but the Mind ? 

Alcib. Nothing. 

Socr. The Mind is, therefore, the man ? 

Alcib. The Mind alone." — Plato. 

"There is not a natural action in the Body, whether voluntary or 
involuntary, that may not be referred to the peculiar state of the 
Mind at the time." — Dr. John Hunter. 

§ 1. Mind and Body Two Substances. 

IF between Mind and Body interaction can be de- 
tected, as between two different and distinct 
substances, in that fact Materialism will encounter a 
difficulty not easily managed. It is admitted that 
the association of Mind and Body is very intimate — 
as intimate as possible without unity — and yet we 
expect to make it appear that in man there are mani- 
fest two substances which are so unlike that it is 
not possible for either to be absorbed by, or lost in, 
the other. 

Our knowledge of Mind is confessedly limited to 
personal consciousness and mental phenomena, while 
acting in close association with the intricate physical 
organism ; nevertheless, we shall endeavor to show 
that it so stands forth in its own individuality and 
peculiar power as the man proper as to present the 

lenomenon of one substance acting upon another 
and different substance. 

In man we recognize Matter, Life, and Mind ; the 
Life being the agent which has worked the Matter 
into the organic structure occupied by the Mind. 



198 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Life is the body-builder; Mind occupies the building. 
Life serves as a connecting link between Mind and 
Body; it is the passage-way from the one to the other. 
Yital forces are diffused throughout the body : Mind, 
locally, is closely associated with the sensorium — the 
brain castle — and from that center its power goes 
forth to all parts of the body through its Life. Ani- 
mals have a kind of mind, connected by animal life 
with their bodies, but its nature and destiny are 
problems we undertake not now to solve ; we cannot 
even understand the how or the wherefore of the 
subtle influence which our Life has over our body, 
much less the dominion which the indwelling Intelli- 
gence we call the Self, exercises over the wonderful 
mechanism of the body and its still more wonderful 
Life. 

Our argument proceeds on the hypothesis that 
where there is unity, whether in substance or organ- 
ism, there is harmony in action ; or, where there is di- 
versity of being, either in nature or tendency, there 
is diversity and often opposition in action. If, when 
tested by these principles, it shall appear that Mind is 
one Substance and Body another, we need not fear the 
success of Materialism. We will first make clear, by 
illustrations, the basal principles of the argument. 

§ 2. Unity and Harmony. 

Between man's life and its organic body, when that 
structure is perfect, absolute harmony prevails as the 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 199 

result of the adaptation of tlie organism to its life. 
The vital agent, in building, formed for itself a 
structure exactly suited to its own wants. A human 
life could do nothing with the organism of a fish, a 
bird, or a beast, for the want of correlation. In all 
departments of organic nature Body and Life consti- 
tute an organic, consequently, a harmonious, unit. 

Even in mechanics may we detect the operation of 
this law. A watch or an engine is a unit of struct- 
ure ; each part is correlated to some other part, or 
parts, and the whole to the specific and ultimate object 
it was intended to accomplish. Could such a machine 
be perfect, there would be no friction, no reaction; 
all the parts would operate in the silence and simplic- 
ity of a unit under the control of one law or force, 
and each part would contribute its quota, and no 
more, to the specific object of the structure. Were 
the steel of a cambric needle as smooth, and the point 
as sharp, as a bee-sting or a nettle-sting, the simplicity 
of its action would correspond to the vital action of 
an organic body. 

With this unity and harmony contrast the opposi- 
tion which prevails between the anvil and the sledge- 
hammer playing upon it. Here is duality of sub- 
stance and purpose, and the clash of opposing forces 
is the result. Now the agents in the field are two, 
and they have nothing in common. On the one 
hand there is power, and on the other resistance ; each 
has being, properties, and functions independent of 



200 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the other, and both might be used in other relations. 
Reduce the hammer and the anvil to unity, and both 
would be destroyed, so far as the purposes of their 
existence is concerned. The two laws, unity and 
harmony, complexity and diversity, play a mighty 
part in the affairs of this universe. 

The various modifications of these forces, and the 
endless results that follow, surpass human comprehen- 
sion. As nothing exists in isolation, independent, 
and without relations, these laws reach to every thing 
in both the vital and material worlds. "Wherever 
between different substances the law of affinity pre- 
vails, unity and harmony will be established ; where 
repulsion prevails, there will be complexity of compo- 
sition and diversity of action. The vitality of a tree 
is in perfect accord with its organic roots, trunk, 
branches, leaves, buds, and fruit, and all these parts 
are in harmony with each other, for the tree is an 
organic unit. In a healthy organism, whether human 
or animal, the Life acts in unison with the heart, 
the lungs, the stomach, the veins, the nerves, the 
blood, and all the organs act in harmonious concert 
with each other ; and together, Body and Life consti- 
tute an organic unit. The variety of action, as dis- 
tributed among the parts, is so firmly presided over 
by a single Idea that every act of every organ tends 
to produce the general results. The machinery of 
the eye may be taken as an illustration of the whole 
body. The thirteen distinct parts, no two of which 



INTEK ACTION OF MlND AND BODY. 201 

are at all alike either in structure or function, have 
more than one hundred correlations, yet the parts 
are so co-ordinated, that the law of unity and har- 
mony holds sway throughout all departments of this 
organ. 

But man, considered as Mind and Body, does not 
come under this law, but the opposite law. Diversi- 
ties of power and action indicate diversity in agency, 
as between Body and Mind we look in vain for unity 
anywhere. The ends Mind has in view the Body 
knows nothing about ; and in thinking, the body 
seems to be the unconscious, passive instrument of 
the Mind. Between Mind and the brain organ there 
is, without doubt, an important but utterly unknown 
relation ; but consciousness proves that the corre- 
spondence is that which subsists between an agent and 
an instrument it may use. A mindless brain is as 
powerless to think as an amputated foot to walk. 
The lower the order of the Mind the nearer the Mind 
and Body approach to apparent unity, and the more 
brilliant the Mind the wider the gap between mental 
and physical action. But, in even the prattling child 
as enormous a distinction must be made between Body 
and Body and Mind, as between any two substances in 
which action and interaction are constant. 

§ 3. Different Tendencies of Mind and Body. 

If Mind be one substance, and the physical organ- 
ism another and a different substance, we should infer, 



202 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

a priori, that their tendencies and actions would not 
always be in harmony ; that each, in some respects, 
would have ways of its own, and be indifferent to the 
other's ways, and that each would often feel the other's 
antagonistic or added power. And is it not a fact, 
attested by every human consciousness, that Mind, in 
the exercise of its right of self-assertion and im- 
perial power, does hold sway over the Body, controll- 
ing, within certain limits, its organs and faculties ? 

In the main, Mind and Body act in harmony, 
because the latter is subject to the will of the former. 
The presence of Life in the Body overcomes the laws 
which control matter in its inorganic state, and thus, 
through its Life, the Body is placed at the disposal of 
the Mind. My arm now rests upon the table, and the 
law of gravitation tends to keep it there, just as it 
does my inkstand, and, in writing this sentence, my 
hand and arm are as much subject to mental power 
as my pen. The hand, aided by the entire Body, is 
no more competent to write a word than the unaided 
pen and ink. 

The hand is but one of many organs which go to 
make up the body, and all alike are directly or indi- 
rectly subject to the action of Mind ; not one is in 
the least degree responsible for the part it plays upon 
the world's great stage of action. 

Thus wdien it is rigorously certain that one sub- 
stance, having peculiar and specific powers of its own, 
is exercising absolute control over another and wholly 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 203 

different substance, the conclusion is certain, that two 
substances are in the field, for a unity of substance 
cannot act upon and against itself. 

§ 4. Demonstrative Facts. 

Let us, for illustrations of this law, look at familiar 
facts. Out on the green I see six boys yielding to 
the physical law of gravitation, and lying prone on 
the ground. At a given signal, recognized by Mind, 
they spring to their feet ; then one turns a hand- 
spring, another a somersault, another hops, skips, and 
jumps, another is poised on his head, and another hangs 
to a pole by his toes, and the other walks a rope. As 
I look on I ask : " What has set these six masses of 
Matter in motion, and in ways so violent and so differ- 
ent ? To explain the phenomena I must pass beyond 
the boundaries of all I know of Matter, and find the 
directing and the inspiring cause in the intelligence 
and will of the Mind. Mind, in each of the boys, is 
a self -centered, originating power, hence each one 
plays the part that suits best his Mind. 

A few hours later I see the boys, still and uncon- 
scious, in the deep sleep of midnight ; the Mind has 
retired from the sensorium and is quiescent, or per- 
haps it is performing work of which consciousness 
takes no note,* that the body may find recuperation 
in repose. The physical organs are at work as usual, 
the heart beats, the blood circulates, digestion and 
* See chap. IV. 



204 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

assimilation go on, and the life of the body is as 
active as ever. The astonishing thing in the case is, 
the quiescence of the Mind. Both its absence and 
presence alike reveal its character as a non-physical 
substance. Now let the peal of a fire-bell call back 
that Mind to its post, and in a moment those boys are 
on their feet, ready for any emergency. An idea has 
set the Mind in motion, and Mind controls the Body. 

In executing a piece of music on a piano the lady's 
Mind is the performer ; her feet, arms, and fingers, 
as fully as the keys, serve as instruments and noth- 
ing more. 

It is an awful sight to see a squadron of armed men 
storm a battery, bristling with bayonets and defended 
by cannon belching forth fire, shot, shell, grape, and 
canister in a sheet of flame and iron hail. On the 
column advances with steady step, the front line fall- 
ing like grain before the reapers. We think of the 
carnage and deplore the loss of life ; but another and 
a higher consideration may engage the attention of a 
philosopher. Associated with these bodies is an im- 
perial Intelligence, which has weighed in the balances 
of a sound judgment great interests, many of which 
will extend through coming years, affecting the wel- 
fare of millions of people ; and inspired by ambition 
or by a holy patriotism these men voluntarily lay 
their bodies upon an altar of sacrifice that their 
children and children's children may have a home 
and a country. The appalling carnage, from which 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 205 

humanity might well shrink, was not of sufficient 
£orce to cancel the power which Mind had over Body ; 
and though every instinct and every impulse of the 
physical nature inclined in one direction, the impe- 
rial Mind dictated the opposite, and it was obeyed. 
On no other hypothesis than that Mind is a directing 
agent, distinct from the body, can such phenomena 
be explained. 

On the other hand the Body, as one substance, may 
greatly influence the action of the Mind as another 
and associated substance. Disease of the body, spirits, 
and drugs introduced into it, paralyzing or unduly 
exciting the vital functions, may disturb the proper 
relation of Body and Life, and Mind is quick to feel 
and respond to such violence. Sever the nervous 
connection between the brain and the hand and the 
foot, and Mind has no further control over them. A 
pressure upon the brain- substance is instantly mani- 
fest in its effects upon the Mind. 

The adverse physical condition of the native Aus- 
tralians, Bushmen of Africa, and the Fuegians, has, 
without a doubt, told with terrible effect upon the 
intellectual as well as the moral development of these 
peoples. And yet, as Prof. Huxley says : " Between 
them and the gorilla the distance is immeasurable, an 
enormous gulf, and, practically, infinite." Yet, as 
compared to the finest specimens of the Aryan race, 
they seem to have reached the verge of extinction. 
That they are human is not a question, but for many 



206 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

generations they have suffered every privation possi- 
ble and yet live. Not only has there been absent 
every comfort and every stimulant to noble action, 
but hunger, cold, bodily pains, and savage life have 
tended to imbrute their being. Speaking of the Fue- 
gians, Darwin says : " How little can the higher 
powers of the Mind be brought into play ! What is 
there for imagination to picture, for reason to com- 
pare, for judgment to decide upon \ " 

From these facts let no one rush to the conclusion 
that Mind rigidly follows the condition of the Body 
as effect follows cause, for there is a large class of 
facts which negative such an inference. Most of the 
finely conditioned physical structures we meet present 
a mental capacity of but an ordinary character, and 
many a Mind of surpassing strength has been prac- 
tically disabled because its physical associate stood 
tottering for years on the verge of dissolution. 

With this exposition of what we mean by the inter- 
action of Mind and Body, as of one substance acting 
upon another and different substance, though closely 
associated and correlated, the way is now open to 
make an appeal to facts of observation and experience 
in further proof and illustration of the subject. 

In our analysis of Mind, in chapter V, we saw 
that its endowments were many and various, and it 
will now appear that the action of each department 
may produce marked effects upon the body. Percep- 
tion may make a discovery that will cause the body 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 207 

to tremble. Fancy and imagination may create or 
transform objects into horror or beauty, affecting ev- 
ery nerve in the system, and the feelings of the Mind 
may make the heart sick and ache with pain. The 
external world through all the sense-organs may reach 
the Mind, and the reaction of Mind upon the Body 
may have the force of a shock. To learn how far 
Mind and Body act and react upon each other, we 
must go out among all classes and study humanity as 
it is seen in daily life. The question before us is to 
be settled, not so much by abstract reasoning as by 
observed facts and personal experience. The various 
incidents which, as illustrations of the general princi- 
ple we may bring forward, may be taken as only a few 
samples among thousands that might be produced. 

§ 5. Miscellaneous Illustration. 

The action of Mind upon Body has intruded itself 
frequently upon the medical profession ; and mostly 
to such collection of facts as it has made, because of 
their conceded authenticity, will Ave go for informa- 
tion. I make this general acknowledgment of indebt- 
edness to the labors of others emphatic, as it will be 
impossible, in many cases, to give special credits. 
The author to whom I am indebted more than to any 
other is D. M. Tuke, M.D., of Edinburgh, and one 
of the highest medical authorities in Europe. He 
quotes Dr. John Hunter as saying : " I am confident 
that I can fix my attention to any part till I have a 



20S Mattee, Life, and Mind. 

sensation in that part." Think for a moment of the 
taste of a lemon, and the sensation of sourness will 
arise ; then think of the smell of ammonia, and there 
will be a change of sensations. Some people can ac- 
celerate the beating of the pulse by fixing attention 
upon the heart. A thought of the dentist's forceps 
will sometimes quiet an aching tooth. Dr. Midler, an 
able psycho -physiological writer, explains such phe- 
nomena as follows : " The idea of a particular motion 
determines a current of nervous action toward the 
necessary muscles, and gives rise to the motion inde- 
pendently of the will." It should not be thought 
strange, if a measure of the power the Mind has over 
the arm it could extend to any part of the system. 
Dr. M tiller says again : " Any sudden change in the 
ideas, though without motion, and having reference 
to mere extended objects, may excite involuntary 
motions — as laughter." Once more : " Any state of 
the body which is conceived to be approaching, and 
which is expected with confidence, its occurrence 
will be very prone to ensue as the mere result of that 
idea, if it do not lie beyond the bounds of possibility." 
It was the opinion of Dr. Elliston that "the phe- 
nomena of Mesmerism (so called) are all illustrations 
of the power of the will over the brain." This author, 
as quoted by Dr. Tuke, observes that " the action of 
the will on the sensorial fibers of the brain, the nature 
and laws of sensation, the extension of the doctrine 
of reflex action of the spinal cord to the encephalic 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 209 

ganglia, and all the consequences which, necessarily 
follow, cannot fail, I think, to interest the intelli- 
gent professional reader, and afford matter for deep 
thought." Dr. Miiller holds the same view of the 
power which the will exerts over the body : " There 
is in the central organs a power of voluntarily direct- 
ing the Mind to all the cerebral and spinal nerves, 
even to the nerves of common sensation and the 
nerves of special sense." This " power " in the cen- 
tral organs is will power. Again : " Ideas do not act 
merely on the motor apparatus by which they are ex- 
pressed ; they as frequently affect the organs of sense 
with their present sensorial impressions or images of 
the ideas." Herbert Spencer illustrates this principle 
when he says : " I cannot think of seeing a slate 
rubbed with a dry sponge without there running 
through me the same thrill that actually seeing it 
produces." 

Dr. Tuke observes: "If twenty persons direct the 
attention to the little finger for five or ten minutes, 
the result will probably be something like this : a 
few will be unconscious of any sensation in this mem- 
ber ; some will experience decided sensations — aching 
pain, throbbing, etc., and a majority will feel a slight 
sense of weight and tingling." The only satisfactory 
explanation which can be given of this fact is, that 
thought produces vascular changes in the finger 
which produces the sensation of weight and throb- 
bing. Dr. Tuke reports the following: "Mr. Braid 
14 



210 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

requested four gentlemen in good health, and from 
forty to fifty years of age, to lay their arms on a 
table, with the palms of their hands upward. Each 
was to look at the palm of his hand for a few min- 
utes, with fixed attention, and watch the result. En- 
tire silence was enjoined. What happened ? In 
about live minutes, the first, one of the present mem- 
bers of the Royal Academy, stated that he felt a sen- 
sation of great cold in the hand ; another, who is a 
very brilliant author, said that for some time he 
thought nothing was going to happen, but at last a 
darting, pricking sensation took place from the palm 
of the hand, as if electric sparks were being drawn 
from it ; the third gentleman, lately mayor of a large 
borough, said that he felt a very uncomfortable sensa- 
tion of heat come over his hand ; the fourth, secretary 
of an important association, had become rigidly cata- 
leptic, his arm being firmly fixed to the table." 

Were the minds or bodies of these four men in dif- 
ferent conditions, or were they at the time occupied 
with different ideas, which caused the difference in 
the phenomenal results ? 

When a boy, the writer, as ordered by a physician, 
took a dose of calomel and jalap, the nausea of which, 
he thought at the time, was worse than death itself. 
The medicine in a few hours spent its force upon the 
body, but for years the nausea returned whenever the 
occasion was recalled. Such an experience would 
surprise us if it were not so common. 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 211 

A steady gaze upon the setting sun as it is passing 
through a heavy misty atmosphere makes a strong 
impression upon the sense of seeing; so much so, 
that, if we turn away, and look in another direction, 
the sun, in slightly diminished splendor, is still there. 
On the same principle, if the Mind is intensely directed 
to any object which has been or may be an object of 
sight, the visual sense is often so affected that what- 
ever has thus completely filled the Mind's eye also 
appears to be present to the bodily sense. Luther 
saw more of satanic than of human agency in the 
persecutions he suffered on his return from Worms, 
and for the moment he believed that the wicked one 
had entered his room. He hurled his inkstand at the 
apparition, and the stains of the ink are said to remain 
on the wall of his room to this day. At another time, 
the Saviour, with the wounds of the crucifixion, sud- 
denly appeared to him in his room. These phenom- 
ena were simply the results of the intense action of 
an idea upon the optic nerve. 

"Walter Scott, after having spent some hours in read- 
ing the life and journal of Lord Byron, with his mind 
filled with the minutest conception of his appearance 
and character, passed out into the hall of his mansion, 
and there, apparently, met the noble poet. Scott's 
presence of mind, or self-possession, did not forsake 
him. He remembered that his friend had been dead 
for some years, and his philosophy taught him that 
what appeared to his eyes as the living man was only 



212 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the result of the vivid conceptions he had formed of 
him in his mind by reading his life and journal. The 
discovery of the spectrum of the sun made a deep 
impression upon the mind of Sir Isaac Newton. For 
some months after that event, in the dark, and any- 
where, by fixing his attention upon the scene, it 
would appear as vividly to him as when he looked at 
the sun itself. We see in this nothing but the power 
of an idea upon the sense of sight. Thousands of 
people, after having spent a week at a camp-meeting, 
have, for some days after returning home, heard the 
voice of prayer, praise, and song. These services, in 
idea and feeling, had become so intense that their 
properties had been, to a slight extent, imparted to 
the sense of hearing. 

Many a good dinner has been spoiled, so far as the 
pleasures of taste were concerned, by an animated 
table-talk, interesting the Mind and drawing the at- 
tention away from the carefully prepared viands and 
luxuries of the table. Thus thoughts in the Mind 
may modify, neutralize, or intensify the action of the 
nerves and sensorium. 

In the early history of Ohio, while the wild Indians 
were yet disputing for the lordship of that beautiful 
country, Brady made his celebrated leap across the 
Cuyahoga River, at Kent, a distance of twenty-two 
feet, and thus escaped from the scalping-knife of 
his savage pursuers. In giving an account of what 
seemed to him to be a miracle, he said the Senecas 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 213 

were after him but a few rods in his rear, and that 
their yells of triumph rent the air. As, suddenly 
and unexpectedly, he came to the river a sort of 
inspiration came upon him, and instantly he resolved 
to clear the stream at a bound, and, still clinging to 
his gun and hatchet, he did it. It was with him a 
matter of life or death, and, if death, it was to be by 
slow torture. Mind awoke to almost superhuman 
power ; every nerve and muscle felt the effect, and 
the body was sent through the air and set down on 
the farther shore. The Indians regarded the leap as 
wonderful, and despaired the luxury of consuming 
the brave pioneer by a slow fire. 

Dr. Tuke furnishes the following illustration of 
the physical agitation which may accompany mental 
labor : " Sir Philip Francis," supposed, to be Junius, 
" would pace rapidly forward, as if to pursue a 
thought. He would then suddenly turn short round, 
draw himself up to his full length, and, with a sweep 
of the arm, evolve some epigrammatic sentence or 
well-rounded quotation. Even his own family, habit- 
uated as they were to these sudden interruptions of 
the measured tread with which he loved to pace up 
and down the utmost length that a small suite of 
rooms would allow him, were sometimes startled by 
the vehemence of the outbreak, and strangers were 
absolutely electrified." 

The mental battery not only shook the physical 
structure of Philip Francis, but the throne of England, 



214 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

no doubt, during some years, felt successive shocks 
that came upon it from the same source in the form 
of " Junius's Letters." 

Dr. Ferrier, in his " Medical Histories and Reflec- 
tions," gives the following account of a man and wilo 
who had been bitten by a dog they supposed to be 
mad. The woman thought herself well, but the man 
— a meager hypochondriacal subject — fancied that he 
had uneasiness in his throat, and that he could hardly 
swallow any thing. When he first applied to me, a 
medical friend, who was present, asked him whether 
he had. any sensation of heat at the pit of his stomach. 
He answered in the negative, doubtfully ; but next 
day I found him in bed complaining of heat at the 
pit of his stomach, difficulty of swallowing, tremors, 
and confusions in his head. He continued to per- 
suade himself that he was ill of rabies, and confined 
himself to bed, expecting death for nearly a fortnight. 
At last I remarked to him, that persons who were 
attacked with rabies never survived more than six 
days; this drew him out of bed, and he began to 
walk about. By a little indulgence of his fears this 
might have been converted into a very clear case of 
hydrophobia, and the patient would probably have 
died." 

A farmer, at work in his field, found that his vest 
was, by many sizes, too large for him, and not thinking 
that the strap on the back was broken, was smitten 
with the idea that he had become poor, and that he 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 215 

must be sick; so he started immediately for the house. 
He barelv succeeded in entering the door, and with 
sighs and groans reported his condition to his wife. 
Pulling forward his vest, that his wife might see how 
he had shrunk away, he requested that the doctor be 
sent for at once. The good wife instantly discovered 
his mistake, and the removal of the idea of sickness 
cured the man. 

Prof. Johnson, well-known to the writer, while 
using an ax supposed he had cut his foot, and a piece 
of red flannel near his foot he mistook for blood. He 
came into his house limping, rubbing his hands in 
deep distress, and ordered the doctor sent for. Not 
a drop of blood had been drawn ; his trouble was all 
the work of an idea. Such is the power which an 
idea in the Mind has over the body. 

Dr. Tuke states that "Actual paralysis from hard 
and prolonged intellectual labor should be noted as a 
not infrequent result. The intellect acts upon the 
heart and non-striated muscles with a power similar 
to that which it exercises over the voluntary or stri- 
ated muscles, causing regular movements, spasm, and 
paralysis." 

Dr. Graitolet relates the following: "A medical 
student in Paris, on being initiated into the myste- 
rious rites of a Masonic society, was subjected to the 
following process : His eyes were bandaged, a liga- 
ture bound round his arm, and the usual preparations 
made to bleed him. When a pretense of opening a 



216 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

vein was made, a stream of water was spurted into a 
bowl, the sound of which resembled that of the flow 
of blood which the student was anticipating. The 
consequence was, that in a few moments he became 
pale, and before long, fainted away." 

Dr. Tuke relates the case of a man who was sen- 
tenced to be bled to death : " He was blindfolded, 
the sham operation of bleeding was performed, and 
water allowed to run down his arm in order to con- 
vey the impression of bleeding. Thinking he was 
about to die, he did actually die." The idea in the 
Mind, though false, had destroyed the physical Life. 

Once, in Paris, a criminal's head had been laid 
upon the block, but before the ax fell a reprieve 
came, but it was too late. The dread of death had 
arrested the action of the heart, and life was found 
to be extinct. 

Dr. Liebig sa} r s : " Every conception, every mental 
affection, is followed by changes in the chemical nat- 
ure of the secreted fluids ; and every thought, every 
sensation is accompanied by a change in the com- 
position of the substance of the brain," Such is the 
most hidden influence of the Mind over the Body. 

The thought of occupying a prominent position 
before the public will almost invariably produce 
bodily sensations, especially among young people. A 
young clergyman expects in a few days to perform, 
for the first time, in the presence of a brilliant com- 
pany, the marriage ceremony. As often as the idea 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 217 

of the wedding comes to his mind an indescribable 
sensation seizes the pit of his stomach, somewhat like 
nausea or uneasiness, which visibly agitates the body. 
This emotion, having its origin in the Mind, may be 
called the epigastric feeling, as its effects are so fully 
realized in the abdominal region. Perhaps there is 
no sensation more common to the human family than 
this, and in some instances the feeling is so intense 
that it produces complete qualm, or Milton's "qualms 
of heart-sick agony." 

The power of Mind over Body was never more 
clearly and correctly conceived than by Shakespeare : 

" The thought whereof 
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards." 

Again : 

" I feel such sharp dissension in my breast — 
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear, 
As I am sick witli working of my thoughts." 

Painful emotions tend to produce chilliness and 
coldness of the extremities, whereas joyful mental 
excitement will sometimes put the whole body in a 
state of perspiration. 

Dr. Darwin relates the following as quoted by Dr. 
Tuke : " A young farmer in Warwickshire finding 
his hedge broken, and the sticks carried away during 
a frosty season, determined to watch for the thief. 
He lay many cold nights under a hay-stack, and at 
length an old woman, like a witch in a play, ap- 
proached and began to pall np the hedge ; he waited 



218 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

till she had pulled up her bundle of sticks, and was 
carrying them off, that he might convict her of the 
theft, and then, springing from his concealment, he 
seized his prey with violent threats. After some 
altercation, in which her load fell on the ground, she 
kneeled upon the bundle of sticks, and raising her 
arms to heaven beneath the bright moon, then at the 
f nil, spoke to the farmer, already shivering with cold : 
' Heaven grant that thou never mayest know again 
the blessing to be warm ! ' He complained of cold 
the next day, and wore an upper-coat, and in a few 
days another, and in a fortnight took to his bed, 
always saying nothing made him warm ; he covered 
himself with very many blankets, and had a screen 
over his face as he lay ; and from this one insane idea 
he kept his bed above twenty years, for fear of the 
cold air, till at length he died." 

The suggestion of the idea of food, or of water, tea, 
coffee, and in some cases wine, produces the sensation 
of appetite ; but, on the other hand, when the Mind 
is much occupied, we may pass one or two meals — as 
the writer has done — without feeling in the least a 
sense of hunger, or even thinking of it. 

It is generally believed that the emotional part of 
our nature exerts a stronger and more general influ- 
ence upon our bodies than the Will or the Intellect. 
The thought is conceived by the Intellect ; its force 
is communicated to the emotions, and many, and often 
contrary, feelings may be aroused to action, and in the 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 219 

result every nerve and muscle in the system may be 
affected. 

Dr. Tuke says : " Anger or rage contracts the 
masseters, inflates the nostrils, furrows the forehead, 
exposes and rolls the eye-balls, clenches the fists, and 
induces a violent action and more or less rigidity of 
the muscles generally ; it usually impels the body 
forward, while fear impels it backward." 

Sir Charles Bell gives the following description of 
the power which the feeling of great terror may pro- 
duce upon many physical organisms : " There is a 
spasm in his breast- — he cannot breathe freely ; the 
chest is elevated, the muscles of his neck and shoul- 
ders are in action, his breathing is short and rapid ; 
there is a gasping and a convulsive motion of his lips, 
a tremor on his hollow cheek, a gulping and catching 
of his throat ; and why does his heart knock at his 
ribs while yet there is no force of circulation ? for 
his lips and cheeks are ashy pale." 

The Mind, filled with the idea of danger, excites 
the emotion of fear to the pitch of terror, and this 
chain of causes produces the physical phenomena Sir 
Charles describes. As an illustration of the power of 
mental and emotional action to rupture the cutaneous 
capillaries and force the blood to the surface, so as to 
occasion bloody sweat, Dr. Tuke relates the following 
case : " A sailor, aged thirty, was so alarmed by a 
storm that he not only fell on the deck speechless, 
but on going'to him Paulini observed large drops of 



220 Matter, Life, and Mint*. 

perspiration of a bright red color on his face. At 
first he imagined that the blood came from his nose, 
or that the man had injured himself by falling, but 
on wipiug off the red drops from the face he was 
astonished to see fresh ones start up in their place. 
The colored perspiration oozed out from different 
parts of the forehead, cheeks, and chin, but it was 
not confined to these parts, for on opening his dress 
he found it formed on the neck and chest. On wip- 
ing and carefully examining the skin he distinctly ob- 
served the red fluid exuding from the orifices of the 
sudoriparous ducts. So deeply stained was the fluid 
that on taking hold of the handkerchief with which 
it was wiped off, the fingers were made quite bloody. 
As the bloody perspiration ceased the man's speech 
returned." 

This case may be thus analyzed : The Mind, through 
the senses, conceived that a tempest was at hand ; the 
fancy, aided by imagination, pictured its effects upon 
the ocean, and especially upon the vessel, and a grave 
in the deep seemed to be inevitable ; fears were ter- 
ribly aroused ; hope, in agony, gave way to despair, 
and thus every power of the Mind was roused to 
action, and its reaction upon the body produced the 
bloody sweat. But it is useless further to multiply 
facts to prove and illustrate the power the Mind has 
over the Body. To exhaust the subject would be to 
write the whole story of human Life. The subject is 
important, and many volumes have been written upon 



Interaction of Mind and Body. 221 

it, and every day of human experience affords matter 
for volumes more. 

Many learned attempts Lave been made to ascer- 
tain just how nerves, muscles, tissues, the blood, 
lungs, heart, and other physical organs are influenced 
by the action of the Mind ; but on these subjects 
physiologists are not able to agree. In our argument 
the facts of the case are matters of supreme impor- 
tance — the modus operandi is of no consequence. 
The progress of learning may yet crystallize into a 
science which may be called psycho-physics, but we 
are a great way from it now. 

That the reader may the more clearly see, not only 
that the Mind is not the Body, nor any part of it, 
but that, like another substance, it acts upon it, we 
will catalogue, for his benefit, many of the more prom- 
inent influences it exerts upon the Body, taking Dr. 
Tuke as our principal guide. 

I begin with the Intellect. Excess of study may 
produce epilepsy, diabetes, nervous headache, hemi- 
plegia, jaundice, dyspepsia, and general nervous de- 
rangement. Close attention may result in visual hallu- 
cination, oscular spectrum, illusions, sensations of cold, 
sensations of heat, darting and pricking sensations, 
cataleptic rigidity, stigmata, purging, and nervous 
sleep. Association of ideas may produce nausea, os- 
cular spectrum, epilepsy, paralysis, vomiting, and purg- 
ing. Imaginative expectation may produce visual 
auditory" and olfactory hallucinations, muscular move- 



222 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

merits, epilepsy, nervous disturbances, syncope, vomit- 
ing, sweating, and death. 

Sympathy produces acute pain, convulsions, spasms, 
inflammation of glands, urinary pains, and inflamma- 
tion of the lips. 

Various forms of joy may result in facial expres- 
sions and gestures, syncope, effusion of blood into the 
pericardium, apoplexy, heart diseases, and death. 

Grief produces equally marked effects upon the 
Body, such as - facial expressions and gestures, epi- 
lepsy, paralysis, chorea, spasms, tetanus, jaundice, 
phthisis, gangrene, blanching of the hair, gastric dis- 
ease, arrest of lachrymal secretion, and death. 

Hope and faith And their physical expressions in 
the face and eyes, in a general stimulating influence, 
cure of paralysis, cure of ague, and relief of rheumatic 
pains. 

Despair, self-esteem, humility, and courage, all 
have their facial and other expressions. The emo- 
tions of fear, fright, terror, and anxiety produce 
physical expressions so marked that the Body be- 
comes a correct index of the condition of the Mind. 
In the quivering of muscles, trembling of knees-, con- 
vulsions, cold or excessive perspiration, loss of speech, 
bloody perspiration, and death, the Mind traces 
ideas and emotions upon the Body as if it were a 
parchment. These physical expressions are again 
effaced, or modified, or withdrawn, as the Mind gives 
its attention to other subjects. 



Definition of Life. 223 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ATTEMPTS MADE TO FRAME A DEFINITION OF LIFE. 

"You cannot satisfy the human Mind in its demand for logical 
continuity between molecular processes and the phenomena of con- 
sciousness. This is a rock on which Materialism must inevitably split 
whenever it pretends to be a complete philosophy of the human 
understanding." — Prof. John Tyndall. 

§ 1. The Boldness of modern Philosophic Thought. 

T) EPEATED and brilliant successes have encour- 
a\j aged the human Mind to undertake the solution 
of a,uj problem which the phenomena of nature may 
present. The spirit of inquiry is every-where, and 
the most abstruse subjects are discussed, not only in 
literary institutions and among scholars, but in count- 
ing-rooms, in the social circle, among all classes, and 
in all the walks of life. 

The professed scientists of this age are men of 
character, of rare industry, and richly endowed with 
intellect and learning. They might be grouped into 
various classes, as Theists, Idealists, Pantheists, Ag- 
nostics, Materialists, and Atheists. They all shade off 
more or less into each other, and the terms Vitalist 
and Materialist will, perhaps, embrace all the schools 
of modern thought. The Vitalist and Materialist oc- 
cupy opposite sides of the circle — they are as wide 



224 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

apart as can be ; and between them there can never 
be any thing but the sharpest antagonism. 

Materialism is an ancient school in science; one 
which at long intervals, during the last twenty -five 
centuries — from Democritus to the present day — has 
had its spasms of activity, each followed by a deadly 
relapse. At present, more than ever before, Mate- 
rialists are confident and dogmatic, as if they felt an 
assurance of victory. Our greatly increased facilities 
for prosecuting physical investigations have intensified 
the enthusiasm of all classes in the studies of geology, 
chemistry, and astronomy/; and when a strong Mind 
becomes devoted to any great subject as a life-study, 
it becomes to him the world in which he lives, and 
moves, and has his being. His stand-point is an in- 
tellectual center, around which all things else revolve 
in diminished proportions. The world each one of 
us lives in is but the correlate of himself — a one- 
sided man, a one-sided world, a narrow man, a nar- 
row world, and a full-orbed man, a full-orbed world. 
What we search for, what we feel, what supremely 
interests us, we can find and establish to our satisfac- 
tion, and the conclusions of a single Mind, pursuing 
a solitary line of thought, can seldom be trusted as 
truth. The subjective logician, as Bain or Mill, may 
give us the frame-work of argument, and the poet 
may delight us with the creations of his imagination ; 
but truth, as a grand whole, is not to be found in such 
narrow channels. 



Definition of Life. 225 

But in our studies nothing so wearies us and tries 
our patience as the narrowness and the exclusiveness 
of modern Materialism. The argument is a process 
of excision and extinction, as if to establish Material- 
ism its advocates would blot out every thing except 
a stone, and then, pointing to that, exclaim, " Behold 
in miniature the universe ! " 

It is not to be deprecated that all schools of thought 
are making nature's volume the subject of earnest 
study, and that the age is making positive progress 
in various kinds of knowledge; but we regret that 
such is the eagerness of the investigators to add 
each his quota to the aggregate result that time is not 
taken for more elaborate investigations. Unwisely, 
vital and psychological studies have been carried into 
the realm of Matter for solution by Induction, and 
the labors of another generation will be required to 
balance the excesses, the one-sidedness, and the distor- 
tions of this. 

It is not very marvelous that men have accredited 
to Matter whatever they have found associated with 
it. One of Job's friends recognized his own body 
as a " house of clay," but that was a long time ago. 
The modern scientist, in his superior wisdom, sees, 
or thinks he sees, that in his case clay, that is, a Body, 
because it has worked itself into bone, muscles, nerves, 
organs of various kinds, then lived, also became con- 
scious of existence ; and though this clay differs only in 

form, not essence, from what it was at first, in various 
15 



226 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

ways it manifests vital and mental phenomena. Joy, 
grief, and most of the emotions have their physical 
expression, and why may not common dirt so pack 
itself together that it will express all that ever ap- 
pears upon the human face or flashes from the human 
eye? Man, then, may be regarded, not as a spirit 
dwelling in a house of clay, but simply as a structure 
of self-organized dirt and nothing more. This sub- 
lime conclusion, perhaps, might be confirmed by a 
quotation from Scripture : " Dust thou art, and unto 
dust shalt thou return ! " 

§ 2. The Stronghold of Materialism. 

To strengthen this view of the nature of man it is 
alleged that in sleep the brain parts with a portion of 
its blood ; and, as a consequence of this loss of stimu- 
lating force, there is a cessation of thought and con- 
sciousness; and, further, when injuries are inflicted 
upon the brain mental operations, to all appearance, 
either cease, or, like the brain, become deranged ; 
hence the conclusion is drawn that the brain Matter 
thinks, wills, and feels. Changes in the brain mass 
affect the Mind or mental operations, as the manipu- 
lating of the keys of an organ affects the music. 
Mental and cerebral actions appear to be in harmony 
— the one cause, the other effect. 

But the stronghold of Materialism is found in the 
fact that we have no knowledge of Mind separate 
from the Body. Professor Ferrier says : 



Definition of Life. 237 

" Matter is already in the field as an acknowledged 
entity — this both parties admit. Mind, considered 
as an independent entity, is not so unmistakably in 
the field. Therefore, as entities are not to be multi- 
plied without necessity, we are not entitled to postu- 
late a new cause so long as it is possible to account 
for the phenomena by a cause already in existence ; 
which possibility has never yet been disproved." 

On the above let us consider : 

1. That the assumption that Matter, as an entity, is 
in the field of observation is not true. We fully 
believe in the entity of the atomic elements, as we 
have shown in chapter first ; but such is their infinite 
smallness that they are not in the field of observation 
by more than two thousand diameters. Matter, as an 
entity, is no more a subject of sensation or observation 
than a Spirit or a Life. Matter, as it appears in the 
heterogeneous masses, is not Matter as an entity. 
The nature or essence of Matter is as inscrutable as 
the essence of Mind. 

2. It is neither logical nor fair to call upon Yital- 
ists to prove a negative. When Prof. Ferrier affirms 
that Life and Mind are the products of mere Matter, 
it is our right to demand the proof, and his duty 
to supply it. He might assert that the moon is the 
source of Life, and demand that we go there, and by 
actual observation, demonstrate the contrary. Mate- 
rialists have been pressed hard, again and again, for 
proof of the truth of their dogmatic assertions, but to 



228 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

this hour the main article of their creed — that Mat- 
ter can think — stands alone, unsupported by a fact of 
nature. 

3. We may, with absolute truth, retort, that there 
is a Something in the field whose phenomena were 
never known to spring from mere Matter, and that 
organic Matter was never in the field, except as the 
product of a pre-existing vital agent. 

4. If Prof. Ferrier bases his remark upon some- 
thing occult in Matter, or upon a kind of Matter un- 
known to Chemistry, then we can only reply that he 
has carried the question outside the range of all knowl- 
edge, and his dogmatisms are of no value. We can deal 
only with the Matter known to the chemist, and we 
have not the slightest proof that any other kind exists. 

5. All that can be urged on the basis of the suppo- 
sititious ether, with which the scientific fancy fills the 
interstellar spaces, in proof that there is a kind of 
Matter that can generate life, or construct organic 
bodies, even a cell, or spin a hair, as argument is of 
no value whatever. To urge such a consideration, is 
to raise a signal of distress on the part of an advocate. 
If Matter were a changeable substance; if alternately 
it were losing old properties and gaining new ones, 
we would not be able to decide upon what it had 
been, or upon what it will become. But the question 
is not embarrassed by any such consideration. The 
Mind that can grasp the idea of a pure unitary sub- 
stance perceives, a priori, that Matter is unchange- 



Definition of Ltfe. 229 

able. As spontaneous generation is not now, as our 
greatest Materialists confess, a property of Matter, we 
have not the least reason to believe that it ever was 
or ever will be. Consequently every organism, from 
the cell upward, is proof positive that" a vital agent is 
in the field, and conspicuously at work. 

§ 3. Materialists not Content with their Argument. 

Materialism encounters its greatest difficulties to 
progress in Matter itself. In some respects it is incor- 
rigibly wanting, and in others it presents unmanage- 
able excesses. Hence Prof. Tyndall says : " Let us 
radically change our notions of Matter." Well, sup- 
pose we so change them as to invest Matter with all 
vital and mental phenomena, do we not, thereby, sub- 
tilize it into Spirit, and then simply call Yital Phe- 
nomena by another name. This unrest and anxiety, 
betrayed by Mr. Tyndall, is common to the Material- 
istic school of science. Mr. Darwin went down to the 
grave mourning that the " missing links " in the chain 
of his philosophy could not be found, and Herbert 
Spencer feels deeply the fact that his evolution the- 
ory is wholly dependent upon the once hoped-for spon- 
taneous generation for its strength. He is aware of 
this fatal deficiency, and feels compelled to look upon 
his gigantic but tottering arch as without a key-stone. 
These eager minds, effervescing with the excitements 
of new discovery, have been thrown off their balance, 
and they have rushed to unauthorized conclusions, 



230 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

which will make it the duty of another generation to 
reconstruct their philosophy and place it upon a basis 
of demonstrated fact. 

Notwithstanding Mr. Tyndall's rank Materialism, 
we take pleasure in acknowledging that he has been 
of service to the cause of Yital Philosophy, and his 
honest, wholesome words have done much to keep 
his less careful compeers within the bounds of pro- 
priety. The reckless extravagance of Alexander Bain 
finds its antidote in the superior intelligence and 
cooler candor of Tyndall. The most valuable para- 
graph he ever wrote is the following, on what we 
know and do not know of the connection which 
subsists between the brain and mental operations. 
Though often quoted, this discussion would not be 
complete without it : 

" Granted that a definite thought and a definite 
molecular action in the brain occur simultaneously, 
we do not possess the intellectual organ, nor the rudi- 
ments of an organ, which would enable us to pass, by 
a process of reasoning, from the one phenomenon to 
the other. They appear together, but we do not 
know why. Were our minds and senses so expand- 
ed, strengthened, and illuminated as to enable us to 
see and feel the very molecules of the brain ; were 
we capable of following all their motions, all their 
groupings, all their electric discharges — if such there 
be — and were we intimately acquainted with the cor- 
responding states of thought and feeling, we should 






Definition of Life. 231 

be as far as ever from the solution of the problem : 
How are these physical processes connected with the 
facts of consciousness ? The chasm between the two 
classes of phenomena is, intellectually, impassable. 
Let the consciousness of love, for example, be associ- 
ated with a right-hand spiral motion of the molecules 
of the brain, and the consciousness of hate with a 
left-handed spiral motion, we should then know, when 
we love, that the motion is in one direction, and when 
we hate, that the motion is in the other; but the why 
would still remain unanswered." 

This confession of Mr. Tyndall makes it impossible 
for us to hope that the study of Physiology will ever 
aid us in understanding our mental structure. Were 
our knowledge of Body and Mind, as separate entities, 
perfect, their connection would still be a mystery • 
and, what is still more important, a perfect knowledge 
of man's physical structure would not suggest to our 
reasoning powers how it is possible that thought, will, 
and emotion can ever exist in connection with such 
an organism. There is no more apparent causal con- 
nection between brain-matter and Mind than between 
a block and Mind. The only ground that reason can 
calmly rest upon is this : Mind is one thing, Matter 
another, and an impassable chasm yawns between 
them. This is not mere assertion. In the study of 
Biological questions Spencer, Bain, Lewes, and, more 
than all others, Dr. Lionel Beale, have displayed a vast 
knowledge of Chemistry, Anatomy, and Physiology, 



232 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

especially in regard to nerve-tissue, molecular changes, 
cells, bioplasts, affinities, electrodes, and whatever per- 
tains to the physical organism ; but all this knowl- 
edge, comprehensive as it is, has not modified an iota 
our conceptions of Life and Mind, or their relation 
to the Body. 

§ 4. Vital Writers have Failed to Help their Cause. 

But another class of scientists, of equal ability and 
learning, is in the field. It holds, with Aristotle, that 
"the proper study of mankind is man." The study 
of the universe presupposes the knowledge of our- 
selves — our capacity — and correlations. But there is 
danger that a clearly- apprehended truth may dazzle 
rather than enlighten the Mind. Standing where we 
now do, Bishop Berkeley, David Hume, and other 
great men have made egregious mistakes. They so 
long and so fully interpreted objective phenomena in 
the light of their own subjective consciousness, that 
they were led to deny that we know any thing be- 
sides our own ideas and impressions. An idealistic 
school of philosophy arose which has done incalcu- 
lable mischief in discrediting man's faculties and in 
sapping the foundation of all knowledge. If our be- 
lief in the reality of an external w T orld is an illusion — 
if the savage, the peasant, and the philosopher alike 
are the victims of a stupendous fraud — may not the 
Messiah be set down as a myth, and his resurrection as 
a cheat ? Volumes and volumes of learned nonsense 



Definition of Life. 233 

have been given to the world to prove that the earth, 
sun, and stars are not substance, but appearances, 
where nothing appears, and appears to nothing ; that 
the physical sensations of hardness, weight, figure, 
density, and coldness, supported by the sense of see- 
ing, were not proof of the existence of substance, and 
that the pain of a bee-sting was nothing but an idea. 
All we know as reality, they teach, is the certainty 
of ideas and impressions. 

Thus the Matter-intoxicated scientist denies the 
existence of Life and Mind, and the Mind-intoxicated 
scientist denies the existence of a world of Matter. 
And so the parties stagger on, both, leaving the 
highway of knowledge, fall into the ditch, one on 
the one side, and the other on the other side. It is 
the sober and evenly balanced Mind, which keeps 
steadily in view the whole circle of truth, that travels 
safely the royal road that leads to certain results. 
Huxley and Bain try to combine the two schools of 
thought by making Matter and Mind a unit of sub- 
stance ; and the mongrel thus formed is not any thing 
which can be recognized in nature. 

If we keep steadily in view Mind and Matter, as 
separate entities — note carefully their relations and 
do not confound their phenomena — clear conceptions, 
approved by consciousness and susceptible of proof, 
will reward ns for our labor. The one line of 
thought cannot be understood by the study of the 
other. The attention which our physiologists have 



234 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

given to the study of brain Matter for the purpose 
of understanding Mind has been labor lost, and all 
attempts to chemically analyze organisms for the pur- 
pose of detecting life, or throwing light upon the 
science of Mind, is the extreme of absurdity ; yet 
scientists speak learnedly of nerve tissues and molec- 
ular changes, and draw conclusions, as if these subjects 
were understood or had any bearing upon the main 
question. That there is any connection between 
thought and molecular changes is a matter of pure 
conjecture. Prof. Tyndall's frank and honest state- 
ment in regard to this matter, already quoted, places 
the subject outside the pale of debate. 

Materialists have been required to endure severe 
hardships and suffer many disappointments. For 
many years they clung to the theory of spontaneous 
generation, as to a forlorn hope. All the resources of 
the laboratory have been taxed to their utmost to aid 
nature in granting to the weary toilers this sorely 
needed boon. Pasteur of France ; Helmholtz, of 
Germany ; and Bastian, of England, besides hundreds 
of lesser lights, have, after many trials, abandoned 
the idea that Life can come only from antecedent 
Life. That peculiar phenomena exist, called Vital, 
cannot be denied, and Materialists have felt the neces- 
sity of working out a definition of Life which would 
recognize it simply as an affection of Matter. To do 
this has been a difficult task, and the skill of many 
men, and the capacity of many languages, have been 



Definition of Life. 235 

taxed to their utmost in the attempts which have 
been made. It is not likely that any one ever at- 
tempted to define a triangle in the terms used to de- 
scribe a circle ; but such task would be child's play 
compared to the labor of giving a clear conception of 
Vital phenomena in terms of Matter. Yet the neces- 
sities of the case have demanded that Materialists face 
this difficulty and undertake to overcome it. The 
importance of such effort is apparent, for if Life can 
be defined as an affection of Matter, it is disposed of 
as a distinct entity. No one point in this contro- 
versy, since the abandonment of the hope of realizing 
spontaneous generation, has received so much atten- 
tion as this. By the help of the imagination a satis- 
factory conception of Life could be created or in- 
vented, but language stubbornly refused to give it 
form and expression ; hence the wriggling and twist- 
ing it has endured is amazing. 

§ 5. Materialistic Attempts to frame a Definition of Life. 

Schelling's definition is in these words: "Life is 
the tendency to individuation." This definition con- 
tains a germ of truth, and is the most acceptable de- 
liverance Materialism, or, perhaps, I should say, Ger- 
man Idealism, has produced. Had Schelling said : 
The vitality displayed on the globe is made up of 
different entities, which, in their development, pro- 
duce individual organic structures, his definition 
would be in harmony with what we have repeatedly 



236 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

stated. But at best it is an indefinite and bare-bone 
definition — "a tendency to individuation" — a tend- 
ency of what, may we inquire ? Is Life a substance, 
whose " tendency " is to build up individual plants 
and animals % or is there, in some kinds of Matter, a 
property whose tendency is to work itself into indi- 
vidual organic bodies? This definition amounts to 
nothing, because we are unable to determine the 
source and cause of the " tendency." But indefinite 
and equivocal as it is, it lies too near the truth to be 
accepted by Materialists, and they have thrown it out 
as worthless. 

Richerand's definition is as follows : " Life is a col- 
lection of phenomena which succeed each other dur- 
ing a limited time in an organized body." 

" Phenomena " are effects ; pray what is their 
cause ? By what means was the body organized in 
which the phenomena were found? And why have 
we such an infinite variety of phenomena in different 
organic bodies? In passing from the moss to the 
cedar and from the worm to man, whole kingdoms 
are brought into view. As Life is in some way asso- 
ciated with all these phenomena, a definition of it, to 
be in the least intelligible, must specifically point out 
the connection between them. The phenomena of 
an organic body embrace the entire body ; there is 
no one part or nucleus in which they inhere. The 
definition, then, amounts to this: Life is the phe- 
nomena of an organic body, and amounts to nothing. 



Definition of Life. 237 

If tlie organism is Life, then tlie definition should be 
shortened, and the term used as synonymous with 
Matter. Spencer objects to this definition, because it 
applies equally well to the slow decay of a dead body. 
Think of it ; a renowned scientist formally publishes 
a definition of Life which another renowned scientist, 
of the same school, says applies with equal force to 
the decay of the dead. Difficulties equally great 
are encountered by the whole school in its attempts 
to frame a definition in terms of Matter. 

De Blainville tries his hand at a definition of Life 
with the following result: "Life is the twofold in- 
ternal movement of composition and decomposition at 
once general and continuous." The cause of " com- 
position and decomposition " is not stated, hence the 
definition contains no complete idea, and is of no 
value. We must infer that the " composition and 
decomposition" take place in an organic body, and 
we are to conceive of Life as consisting of the changes 
■ — the coming and going — of atoms and molecules. 
The definition might, then, stand thus: Life is the 
dance and the clash of atoms ; but when we ask, What 
causes the clash of the atoms ? there comes no an- 
swer, and the definition is of no value. Mr. Herbert 
Spencer, who seems to have taken charge of the task 
of framing a definition of Life, rejects the effort of 
De Blainville, on the ground that it applies as well to 
the action of a galvanic battery as to a living being. 
The study of these attempts at a definition of Life is 



238 Matter, Lite, and Mind. 

valuable, as we can see in them the low and narrow 
plane of ideas on which the discussion is conducted 
by Materialists. 

Prof. Owen's carefully prepared definition of Life 
is as follows : 

"Life is a center of intersusceptive assimilative 
force, capable of reproduction by spontaneous fu- 
sion." If Life be a " force " it can have no inde- 
pendent existence. A force is an effect, which must 
have a cause not itself. What we want, then, is the 
cause of this " force ; " but here, where we need light, 
the definition is a blank. If the definition read that 
Life is a self-centered substance, and the cause of or-, 
ganic bodies, it would contain a clear-cut idea ; but as 
it is there is nothing of it but a clog of words. 

G. H. Lewes proposed the following ; but after a 
few years he saw its excesses and shortcomings, and 
withdrew it : 

" Life is a series of definite arid successive changes, 
both of structure and composition, which take place 
within an individual without destroying its identity." 

The admitted persistency of identity is what de-: 
stroyed this definition for all schools of Evolutionists. 
Mr. Lewes made another attempt, as follows : 

" Vital force is a symbol of the condition of the 
existence of organized Matter." 

He says, again, that " a mental process is only an- 
other aspect of a physical process." Hardness is one 
" aspect " of ice, coldness another ; so Mind and Life 



Definition of Life. 239 

are but different " aspects " of Matter. But it is clear 
that this author had no settled views on this subject, 
for, in another place, he not only denies that Life is 
any thing real, but he emphatically says it should not 
be called a force. On the whole, his labors at fram- 
ing a definition of Life result in conceiving it as an 
" aspect " of Matter. " Only that, and nothing more." 

Bichart says : 

"Life is the sum of the faculties which resist 
death." That is, where there is Life death has not 
come. How luminous this definition ! If it signifies 
any thing, it means that Life and the organism are 
one — that is, that Life, per se, is nonentity. 

Prof. Alexander Bain was an acute and recklessly 
bold advocate of the Materialistic philosophy. We 
have seen the statement somewhere, that he wrote on 
the subject by request, and reluctantly. In some in- 
stances his language is so broad that it seems he was 
willing to bring disgust upon the whole subject. He 
labors long to wring out of language some form of 
expression which would identify Matter and Mind as 
one substance. In the end, he concludes he can do no 
better than call Mind a " state " of Matter. When our 
eyes are open we are in a seeing state, and Matter, in a 
certain undefined and inconceivable condition, is in a 
thinking " state." He says : " We are entitled to say 
that the same being is, by alternate fits, object and 
subject under extended and under unextended con- 
sciousness." Such is Materialism, and such is the 



240 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

acutest conception it has given the world of Life and 
Mind. We have first a new idea of Matter. It is 
subject to alternate " fits" of consciousness and uncon- 
sciousness, and consciousness is but an extension of 
Matter, as one of its tentacles ; thought and will are 
other tentacles. Matter, in a " fit " of extension, is 
Mind ; take from Matter this power of self -extension, 
and the mental part ceases to be. Cure Matter of its 
" fits," and Mind is destroyed. Such are the disgust- 
ing straits to which Materialists are reduced in their 
attempts to frame a definition of Life. Where all 
others have confessedly failed, Mr. Herbert Spencer 
enters the field as the special champion of a "definition 
of Life. He engages in the struggle after the most 
ample preparations, and the result is a complicated 
piece of mechanism, which at last mostly crumbles to 
pieces at his own touch. He commences by assum- 
ing that " assimilation is a form of bodily life " — the 
truth is, it is not a form, but a result, of Life. Assim- 
ilation is one of the processes and steps by which the 
waste and wear of an organism is repaired and built 
up. He then instances " reasoning " as an " example 
of that kind of Life known as intelligence." The fact 
is, reasoning is not a kind of Life, but it is one of the 
faculties or exercises of the Intellect. In chapter 
four we have drawn a sharp distinction between Life 
and Mind. With what he calls these two extremes 
of vital phenomena before him, he sets out in search 
of those properties which are common to both, with 



Definition of Life. 241 

the hope that these will crystallize into an intelli- 
gent definition of Life. This second step in his 
argument is as fallacious as the first, for the idea 
that reasoning, in company with assimilation, can 
form life — its lower and higher extremes — is grossly 
absurd. As well might we say that assimilation is a 
part of intellect. Reasoning and assimilation are not 
common properties of any thing. The next step in 
this sublime argument is, that " Life consists of 
changes." What it is that changes, whether Life 
or something else, we are not informed ; hence, the 
word " changes " conveys no complete idea. We 
are left to infer that the " changes " which take place 
in an organism constitute its Life. But as this defini- 
tion will apply to a thousand other things, as well as 
to living organisms, it means nothing specific and is 
pronounced by its author inadequate. Mr. Spencer 
then enlarges his definition and makes it a " series of 
changes." But as such definition will apply to the 
moon, to the ocean, and to the seasons, it amounts to 
nothing. The " series of changes " he speaks of are, of 
course, to take place in Matter, as in the souring of milk 
and the churning of cream. Such definition will ap- 
ply to the decay, as well as to the growth of vegeta- 
bles. But the mountain labors again, with the fol- 
lowing result : " Series of simultaneous changes." 
His definition is growing, but it is yet in its feeble 
infancy. Another enlargement follows in quick suc- 
cession, and we have : " Life consists of simultaneous 
16 



242 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

and successive changes." But this language does not 
convey a complete idea of any thing, and is aban- 
doned by its author as worthless. But Mr. Herbert 
Spencer is not the man to yield in a contest where 
words are his weapons of war. After another 
page of discussion, in which the cerebrum, the 
viscera, the ocean, mechanics, steam-engines, clouds, 
their changes of position, color, form, density, tem- 
perature, electric states, and other material objects 
and imagery are invoked to lend their inspiration, 
we are favored with the following triumphant deliv- 
erance : " Life is a combination ~ of heterogeneous 
changes, both continuous and successive." In com- 
menting on this supreme effort of his genius, Mr. 
Spencer says : " Nevertheless, answering, though it 
does, so many requirements, this definition is essen- 
tially defective. It does not convey a complete idea 
of the thing contemplated." He makes one further 
effort, and then overthrows the whole structure for 
the following : " Life is the continuous adjustment of 
internal relations to external conditions." G. H. 
Lewes says, " The above is the nearest approach to a 
definition that has yet been effected." "When, then, 
will the definition come ? Never! A burning lamp 
has internal relations to external conditions — the oil 
within to the air without. There is a continuous ad- 
justment of the one to the other. In dressing myself 
according to the weather, I adjust my internal to the 
external. Eating a hearty dinner, that I may have 



Definition of Life. 243 

strength to do a hard job of work, embraces the same 
principle. Will Mr. Spencer claim that these are 
vital processes ? In every case the adjusting force 
must be vital ; if not, the definition is worthless. But 
what it is that generates the peculiar vital force which 
" adjusts " the " internal " to the " external," as dis- 
tinguished from material force, is a question which 
even Mr. Spencer does not attempt to answer. 

"Life is a wave," says Prof. Tyndall, "which in no 
two consecutive moments is composed of the same 
particles." Democritus, 460 B. C, expressed sub- 
stantially the same views. He„said : " The soul con- 
sists of fine, round, smooth atoms; like those of fire, 
they interpenetrate the whole body, and. in their 
motion the phenomena of life arises." 

I am not aware that Prof. Huxley has attempted a 
definition of Life where so many have failed. His 
views we have, however, in another form, and not less 
explicit. Life and thought are the outcome of Proto- 
plasm as their basis. Matter is the cause; living, think- 
ing, and feeling are properties or results. The same 
substance lies at the foundation of all the myriad 
forms of living creatures which characterize the vital 
world. Why one plant should differ from another, 
or why plants should differ from animals, is wholly 
unknown to science. Ought Materialistic Biology to 
be ranked, as a science with the cause of the differ- 
ences in the organic world left unexplained ? In that 
unknown cause may be locked up a factor which, if 



244 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

known, would render obsolete large volumes of loose 
generalizing which of late have been poured upon 
the world. That there is a cause of the endless 
differentiations we witness among living things and 
living creatures, cannot be denied. In regard to it 
Materialists confess their ignorance ; Vitalists recog- 
nize the agency of different kinds of Life. If they 
are mistaken, what other explanation is possible? 

From the above quotations from the most cele- 
brated Materialists of the age, is it not manifest that 
an intelligent definition of Life cannot be framed on 
a Materialistic hypothesis ? And may we not see in 
that fact positive proof that the Materialistic concep- 
tion of Life is a distortion of the truth? Did ever, in 
the world's history, any set of learned men make an 
attempt to express a palpable fact of observation and 
so completely fail ? Their shameful failure can be 
ascribed only to the fact that they have tried to clothe 
an absurdity with the garb of reason and with the 
simplicity of truth. And what more easy than a defi- 
nition of Life as Life — that part of nature which 
causes Matter to assume organic forms? Where there 
is not an antecedent Life there can be no organism. 
The attempt to define Life in materialistic terms is 
made for the purpose of snuffing it out altogether 
and transferring vital phenomena to Matter. Mr. 
Tyndall says : " If we look at Matter, as defined for 
generations in our scientic text-books, the notion of 
conscious Life coming out of it cannot be formed by 



Definition of Life. 245 

the Mind." Good, both for Tyndall and for the 
truth ! If new definitions of Matter and Life can be 
forced upon the acceptance of mankind two points 
of vast importance to Materialism will be carried. 
We have watched and waited in vain for the new 
definitions, but they do not come. 

§ 6. Attempts of Vitalists to Define Life. 

But what have Christian authors done to frame a 
definition of Life ? The hypothesis of the existence of 
non-material substances contains a fundamental truth, 
in all forms of religion. The Bible, if true, is given 
from a living God, not to Matter, but to a vital uni- 
verse ; hence it is called the word of life. Yitalists 
should have been the first in the field, with a clear 
and full deliverance on this subject. But what are 
the facts? I know not an author who has touched this 
question and has not injured the cause he labored to 
subserve. Dr. Lionel Beale, a really learned Chris- 
tian man, carelessly says : " Life is a question of 
physiology." If so, Life is nothing in itself ; it is a 
product, an effect, and the outcome of organic Matter. 
After this concession of Dr. Beale, Materialists can 
ask for nothing more of him.- 

Dr. McCosh, the distinguished president of Prince- 
ton College, denies vitality to the animal and vege- 
table kingdoms. It follows, then, that Matter is capa- 
ble of self-organization, and that crucial point granted 
to Materialism, we concede to it a complete victory. 



216 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

If Matter can work itself into one organism, it can 
into another — even the human brain ; and when the 
fact is demonstrated that Matter can work itself into 
the human brain, I shall not deny to it the power to 
think. McCosh concedes to Materialists far more 
than they claim they can prove. He regards Vitality 
as a force, and classes it with heat, affinity, and the 
other forces of Matter. He says : " The assertion 
that there is a vital principle capable of originating, 
unfolding, and perfecting all that is in the organism, 
may be quite as irreligious as the denial of a separate 
vital potency." He speaks of plants and animals as 
formed out of " wisely -endowed and carefully -pre- 
pared Matter." His description of wisely-endowed 
plant and animal Matter is unscientific — it is mere 
logomachy, and signifies nothing. Nature has no 
such Matter as he specifies. McCosh's conceptions 
of vitality are all thoroughly Materialistic. 

Bishop H. S. Foster, and some other American 
writers, follow closely in the wake of Dr. McCosh 
in their deliverances on this subject. They are, no 
doubt, right at heart; but I have to do only with their 
recorded teachings. 

Prof. Guyot, of Princeton College, lately deceased, 
boldly ascribes vitality to Matter, and makes no dis- 
tinction between Vital and Material forces. 

Dr. T. L. Brnnton, a man of great erudition, in 
his work entitled " Bible and Science," speaks of 
Matter as having "developed into living protoplasm." 



Definition of Life. 247 

Strange language to be used by a Christian philoso- 
pher! Mr. Tyndall, Materialist that he is, says "Life 
can come only from antecedent Life." Again : Brun- 
ton speaks of " the sun as the source of light and 
Life." The fact is, the sun is no more the source of 
Life than a rock or an iceberg. These passages are 
quoted to show how it is that our Christian philoso- 
phers have delivered us over to the tender mercies 
of Materialists. When the champions of religion thus 
lend their influence to the support of the new philos- 
ophy, is it strange that its advocates are confident of 
complete success ? 

After long waiting and watching, we are favored 
with a deliverance on this subject by Joseph Cook. 
As the first of a series of truths and principles, which 
he places at the base of Natural Theology, he gives us 
the following: : " Life is one of the things or states of 
things in the universe." What does this statement 
amount to? Absolutely nothing. Should I present 
a hungry man a package, and say, " This contains 
either bread or a stone, a fish or a serpent," he would 
feel that I was mocking him ; and when Mr. Cook 
solemnly asserts that Life either is or is not some- 
thing, we see that the mountain has labored to no 
purpose. I may say, in regard to the Mind, that it 
is a spirit-substance, or that the Matter of the brain 
thinks, and such language, if it amounted to any 
thing, would strengthen Materialism. If "Life is 
one of the states of things," then Matter, in a certain 



248 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

"state," gives forth Yital phenomena, and Life is only, 
as Materialists claim, a transient resultant. Nothing 
more can be asked of Mr. Cook, for the surrender he- 
makes is complete. 

Some years ago Laurens P. Hickok, D.D. LL.D. 
published a work on Empirical Psychology, and two 
years since the book was revised and republished 
with the aid of Julius H. Seelye, D.D. LL.D., presi- 
dent of Amherst College. From these great names, 
heavily buttressed with titles, keen intellectual pene- 
tration might have been expected, and the solid foun- 
dation laid for a vital philosophy ; but, in fact, they 
play into the hands of the Materialists as follows : 
" Matter is found instinct with life [italic theirs], 
and in the vegetable kingdom this is all we can say of 
its intrinsic mode of operation." " Again : " The 
shortest definition of Life is, the capacity to give 
spontaneity to Matter through the medium of heat." 
JSTow we submit that spontaneity cannot be given to 
any thing, for the word implies without constraint, 
or external force, and the expression is a solecism. 
Whatever does not proceed from inherent internal 
energy is not spontaneous action. If Matter is " in- 
stinct" with Life, and spontaneously builds itself into 
organic bodies, then Materialism is the true interpre- 
tation of nature. The expression "instinct" with 
Life is further explained by the term "capability." 
Once more : " The spontaneity of Life only awaits 
the required conditions; the first of which is, the 



Definition of Life. 249 

need to get the wanted gravitating Matter wliicli is 
promiscuously lying about." Thus according to the 
action of chemical and natural law, physical and 
chemical, organic bodies are formed of Matter instinct 
with Life. Ranker Materialism was never taught by 
Maudsley, Lewes, or any other advocate of the JSTew 
Philosophy. Huxley and Tyndall would laugh at 
such doctrine, not only because it is so utterly unsci- 
entific, but because the parties with child-like inno- 
cence surrender every thing that is in controversy. 

Christian philosophers have failed in their attempts 
to define Life, or say any thing of value on the ques- 
tion of Vitality, because they have regarded it from 
the stand-point of Matter. 

It will seem presumptuous in me to try my hand at 
a definition of Life where so many have failed, but 
from the stand point of the existence of a personal, 
living Creator, whose work must be, at least in part, 
a reflection of himself — a Yital universe — we define 
Life as follows: The vital substances, so far as we 
know, which make up the vital universe, are so cor- 
related to certain kinds of matter that, in suitable 
conditions, the forces of Life work Matter into or- 
ganic bodies, as plants and animals. What Life is, 
per se, in its nature, its essence, our definition does 
not attempt to tell, but if the definition is defective 
on that account, then no definition can be framed of 
substance of any kind. 

Years ago Mr. Tyndall called for a new definition 



250 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

of Matter, giving to it a wider field and additional 
power, as a means of dispensing with a vital world ; 
but it does not come. He even fails to inform ns 
in what respect our " notions " should undergo a 
" change." Would he take from Matter any of its 
acknowledged properties, or make additions to them ? 
Would he manipulate the mass, or strike at the 
atomic elements ? Materialism has promised us noth- 
ing which we look for with more interest than this 
new definition of Matter. A great feat will be ac- 
complished when Matter is so defined as to render 
superfluous a definition of Life. 

§ 7. Life Precedes Structure. 

Under the pressure of the difficulties Materialism 
encounters, its advocates often make fatal concessions. 
There seem to be moments in which the system is for- 
gotten, and the facts of nature are allowed their di- 
rect and legitimate testimony. In his Biology, first 
chapter, while speaking of functions, Mr. Herbert 
Spencer inquires : " Does Structure originate Func- 
tion, or does Function originate Structure? Using 
the word Function in its widest signification, as the 
totality of all vital actions, the question amounts to 
this, Does Life produce organization, or does organi- 
zation produce Life ? " This is the crucial question, 
and upon a correct answer the settlement of the great 
debate depends. Can Matter work itself into an or- 
ganic body, plant or animal, is the same question in 



Definition of Life. 251 

another form. In its discussion, Mr. Spencer gives a 
lengthy a priori argument resulting in the following 
conclusion : " It may be argued, on the hypothesis of 
Evolution, Life necessarily comes before organization ; 
on this hypothesis, organic Matter, in a state of homo- 
geneous aggregation, must precede organic Matter in 
a state of heterogeneous aggregation. But since the 
passing from a structureless state to a structured state 
is itself a vital process, it follows that vital activity 
must have existed while as yet there was no structure 
— structure could not else arise. That function — 
that is, the totality of vital action — takes precedence 
of structure, seems also implied in the definition of 
Life." * He further says : " Function is, from begin- 
ning to the end, the determining cause of structure." 
We accept Mr. Spencer's concessions of fact, but re- 
ject his reasoning. The truth is, function results 
from structure. Because of its peculiar " structure," 
the " function " of the eye is to see. A Theist might 
assume that the Creator, having in view the function 
of seeing, constructed the eye for that purpose. 
Function, in idea, in that case, would precede struct- 
ure. If such is the basal idea of our author's reason- 
ing, he is more orthodox than we had taken him to 
be. If Mr. Spencer fancies that his reasoning lies 
within the limits of his definition of Life, we have no 
objections, for that is of no consequence in any way. 
He closes his remarks on vital function as follows : 

* Italics mine. 



252 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

" If the number of different parts in an aggregate must 
determine the number of differentiations produced in 
the forces passing through it — if the distinctness of 
these parts from each other must involve distinctness 
in their reactions, and, therefore, distinctness between 
the divisions of the differentiated force, there cannot 
but be a complete parallelism between the develop- 
ment of structure and the development of function. 
If structure advances from the simple to the com- 
plex, then special function must do so also." All this 
is excellent, and reduced to simple Saxon means : 

1. That vitality, in point of time, must precede the 
structure of an organic body ; and this is a crucial 
point in vital philosophy. 

2. That the Life initiates and builds up the organ- 
ism ; another crucial point in vital philosophy. 

3. That as one kind of Life, having its own vital 
functions, differs from another kind, so there must be 
a parallel difference in the structures they produce. 
That is, as the vital functions of the rose, the oak, the 
eagle, lion, and man differ, so there must be a corre- 
sponding difference in the development of their phys- 
ical structures. Or, conversely, as the structure of the 
rose, oak, eagle, lion, and man differ from each other, 
there must have been a parallel difference in the 
functions of the Life which originated and built the 
structures. The vital cause was the originating and 
characterizing subjective, the structure the objective, 
result ; another crucial point in vital philosophy. 



Definition of Life. 253 

We are gratified that our views on this subject, 
covering, as they do, much and very important 
ground, are so fully supported by the name of Her- 
bert Spencer. Do different kinds of Life exist ? and 
are they the cause of differentiated organic bodies? 
are the great questions to be settled in this contro- 
versy. Every other suggestion that can be raised is 
collateral and secondary to these. They constitute 
the strong and defensible fortress of Vitalism, and 
ultimately they will be found to be the rock on which 
materialism is to be split. 

§ 8. Cavils of George H. Lewes. 

Mr. George H. Lewes * is astonished at the views 
above expressed by Mr. Spencer, and confesses his 
inability to understand them. He really means, that 
he is unable to harmonize them with the interests of 
Materialism. It is possible that, while stating with 
great care what struck his mind as the truth, that the 
great Evolutionist forgot his party, his friends, and 
his philosophy. The ground held by Mr. Lewes is, 
that the organism causes Life — that " Life is the syn- 
thesis of the organism " — as if an oyster-shell should 
first create itself, and then, in the interior, create the 
living oyster. He says, neither Mr. Spencer nor Mr. 
Huxley (Huxley agrees with Spencer) " would affirm 
that Life can be manifest without a living bod}-." 
"No ; nor, in this state of being would any body else. 

* " Physical Basis of Miud," p. 48 



254 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Vital and mental phenomena appear through the 
organism. The existence of Life is one thing, and 
its " manifestation " to man is another and a very dif- 
ferent thing. Life may exist without manifesting its 
functions even through an organism. The difference 
between Spencer and Huxley on one side, and Lewes, 
Bain, and Maudsley on the other, is this : The former 
believe (whether always consistent, is another thing) 
in the existence of life separate and distinct from 
structural or organic Matter : the latter hold that 
Life is a state or condition of self-organized matter. 
By grossly misrepresenting him, Lewes repeatedly 
tries to bring Spencer to the support of his own 
views. It remains to be seen whether Huxley and 
Spencer will stand by their guns, and risk a schism in 
the ranks of the Positive Philosophy. Inasmuch as 
Materialists are unable to frame a definition of either 
Life or Matter, we must not look for harmony in the 
minor details of their philosophy. 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 255 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONCEPTION OF MAN AS A PHYSICAL UNIT. 

" The universe — the suns and planets, the wonderful organisms^ 
aud even the human Mind in its grandest manifestations, are com- 
posed of and produced by the same materials and forces." — Prof. 
Huxley. 

§ 1. Relation of Mind and Body. 

IT is freely conceded that, as the result of close 
relationship, Body and Mind may be variously 
and sharply affected by each other, and in this respect 
we freely concede to Materialists all they can ask ; but 
when they explain this relation as implying unity of 
substance in man's organic nature, and not the co-or- 
dination of different and distinct substances, we must, 
with an earnest protest, part company with them. 

It is a common occurrence in nature that different 
substances are found to subsist together, and yet, in 
essence, be wholly separate. Not less than thirteen dif- 
ferent kinds of Matter enter into the composition of the 
human body, each kind embracing, probably, millions 
of atoms or primal units of being, each in its nature 
determined solely from within by its own peculiar 
properties and inherent energies, and yet they form 
an harmonious organic nnit. In fact, nothing in the 
universe, so far as we know, exists by itself, solitary 



256 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

and alone, and the mystery of the various modes of 
union does not invalidate the fact. 

The association of man, as an Intelligence, with the 
Matter of the globe on -which he dwells, seems to be 
in every way proper and necessary to adjust him to his 
present place of abode. His physical Life acts as a 
preservative of his body ; for the moment it becomes 
extinct the work of decay commences. It is impos- 
sible for us to form a clearly-defined conception of 
organic man in the light of observation and con. 
sciousness, if we regard him as a unit of substance- 
The change and play and collision and clash of dif- 
ferent and contrary forces in his being imply the 
existence of different ( agents as their cause. 

§ 2. The Existence of Mind really Denied. 

Materialists generally begin this discussion with 
the apparent admission that a substance called Mind 
exists ; but this appearance is a delusion, and arises 
from the fact that only by circumlocution can a ma- 
terialistic terminology be wrung out of any language 
spoken by civilized man. Materialists can but use the 
terms Spirit, Mind, and Life, and we attach to them 
their usual signification ; but we are not long in dis- 
cerning that they are divested of their usual meaning, 
and are forced to signify nothing more than the 
affections of Matter. They deal largely and learnedly 
in Physiology and Anatomy, repeating what has been 
as well said in text-books scores of times before ; and, 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 257 

after an extensive exploration among the nerves and 
brain-matter of the dead, they come forth with the 
announcement that they have found the cause — " the 
physical basis " — of Life and Mind. 

Prof. Bain says : u It is the definite relation be- 
tween outward agents and the human feelings that 
render it possible to discuss human interests from the 
objective side, which is alone accessible."* 

Consciousness and thought, because inaccessible, 
are not to be taken into the account by Prof. Bain in 
his examination of man's " Mind and Body ! " 

Mind, per se, as a subject of study is ignored at 
the start, and at no time receives special attention. 

By the expression, " human feelings," Mr. Bain 
understands nervous sensations ; by outward agents, 
he means any thing that may be brought into contact 
with the body ; and this Body he regards as the man 
proper, and the subject he proposes to discuss is, 
therefore, simply a material organism. 

He is aware that a nervous sensation is nothing 
substantial ; nothing within the reach of chemistry ; 
but, as it has a " definite relation " to the body, it is 
sufficient to examine the body in the absence of the 
sensation — the seat and the cause of all sensations — 
in solving the problem of the Mind ! Such is 
Prof. Bain's position in the work entitled " Mind 
and Body." 

As Mind is excluded from the premises of his 

* "Mind and Body," p. 37. 

17 



258 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

argument, it cannot, of course, reappear in the con- 
clusion. In place of giving an exposition of Mind as 
presented in personal consciousness, and by its mani- 
fested properties and phenomena, its very existence is 
deliberately set aside, and a laborious attempt made 
to supply its place by " nervous sensations." 

We hope that in former chapters* it was made clear 
that Mind is the subjective man ; that its body is an 
objective organism ; and that it is as illogical in argu- 
ment as it is impossible in fact to engulf the whole 
man in a transient organism. It is sharp practice in 
Mr. Bain to get rid of Mind at the start, for the con- 
sideration of its properties, powers, and phenomena is 
thus rendered superfluous. 

§ 3. Absurd Reasoning. 

As we pass on, it is our duty to assure Materialists 
that all such methods of reasoning we regard as mere 
hodge-podge, and that whatever courtesies self-respect 
may require us to show the author, we have no thought 
or feeling but contempt for his argument. Mind 
cannot be dropped out of sight so easily. Mr. Bain's 
position is artificial ; his logic, sophistry ; his repre- 
sentations, perversions ; and his self-respect should 
have compelled him to show a decent regard for the 
intelligence of his readers, by beginning this discus- 
sion with a full consideration of man's mental and 
vital endowments. It is a begging of the question to 

* Chapters iv, v. 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 259 

assume that man is a material unit of substance ; that 
Mind is but the synthesis of the organism ; and that 
in the study of "Mind and Body" we are required 
to examine only the relation of the organs of an 
organism to each other and to an external world. 

§ 4. Matter and Mental Force. 

Materialists have discreetly assumed, what has 
never been proved, that there is stored in the body 
a specific amount of thought -producing force, and 
the question to be considered refers to its distribution 
among the complex organs, affecting their action, 
their reflex influence, and the results. This force is 
in part, they say, mechanical, in part chemical, and 
in part electrical — all, of course, material. In the dis- 
tribution of these forces a part results in thought, 
other portions appear in feeling, and the remainder 
goes to sustain the physical organism. As thought, 
will, and feeling are physical results, their influence 
on the body is of a reflex character. Should the ma- 
chinery of the body perish, or suffer serious injury, 
the Mind, so-called, vanishes like the blaze of a lamp 
when blown out. 

It is of the first importance that we obtain a clear 
idea of this subject as held by Materialists ; but this 
is difficult, inasmuch as its advocates prudently use 
such language as will be likely to give the least 
offense, and often their real meaning is thickly sugar- 
coated by words and phrases which are as much 



260 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

intended to conceal as express their meaning. But 
all hold, that as is the organism so are the mental 
results ; so much bodily force will produce its equiv- 
alent of thought and feelino-. 

Here we join issue with this conception of the 
nature of man. Mind and Body, a unit of substance, 
say Materialists ; we deny it, and affirm the existence 
of two substances — one a living Mind, and the other a 
physical organism which the Mind occupies and uses. 

§ 5. Prof. Bain's Argument. 
In a former chapter we have considered the cor- 
relate influence of Mind and Body, as proof of the 
existence of two entities, and in this chapter we shall 
accompany Materialists over the same ground. In a 
matter of such vital importance it is but just that we 
allow the best accredited writers of that school to 
present their arguments in their own words. Prof. 
Bain, as a champion, shall first be heard. He says : 
" My hand is lying quiescent on the table — something 
touches it lightly, a fly or a feather — there is a rush 
of activity to certain muscles and the hand is moved 
away. Well, suppose the two things to be the remote 
cause and effect — the light contact, cause ; the mo- 
tion, effect. "What may we suppose to be the inter- 
mediate links? Unless the process be something 
quite unique there must be a channel of communi- 
cation from any point in the skin of the hand to 
all these ten muscles. If a similar effect were to 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 261 

occur in the foot, the part moved would be the 
leg, showing lines of communication between the 
skin of the foot or leg and the muscles of the hip, 
thigh, and leg, of which a certain group concur in 
the single effect of withdrawing the foot." * 

He may move his foot, or he may will not to do 
it. There is no necessary connection between such 
irritation and action of the limbs of the body. Mr. 
Bain continues : 

" Suppose now, instead of a light contact, the hand 
is sharply pinched in the very same place. The 
previous case shows the evidence of lines of commu- 
nication between the skin of the hand and a group of 
muscles of the shoulder and arm, and we are pre- 
pared for a similar manifestation, perhaps more vio- 
lent. "We are not disappointed as to the violence ; 
the same group of muscles appear to be raised, and 
to act more strongly ; the withdrawal of the hand is 
greatly quickened. "We find, however, that this is 
not all. With the mere arm movements are coupled 
a great many more — in the other arm, the legs, the 
body, and the face, besides the more concealed move- 
ments shown in the voice, which emits a cry, a shout, 
or other exclamation. "We see that any part of the 
skin of the hand is in connection with perhaps a. 
hundred muscles" [or with the brain and Mind di- 
rectly, and these with "the hundred muscles"], "the 
notable circumstance being that a weak touch does 
*" Mind and Body," p. 24. 



202 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

not arouse the wider circle of movements. . . . Nay, 
further, if we try similar experiments upon the other 
senses we shall find similar effects, with a slight ap- 
plication, a limited class, of movements ; with a severe 
application, a wide display, identical in general char- 
acter with those due to a pinch of the skin. A very 
bitter taste, a malodor, a screeching discord, an in- 
tense flame, will each awaken movements of limbs, 
body, face, and voice. Every one of the senses is in 
the same extensive communication with the organs 
of action." 

The cause of the above fancied but not necessarily 
real physical phenomena is thus explained : 

" The vastly numerous inter-communications above 
shadowed forth are effected through the nerves and 
their central masses." 

Mr. Bain was not an anatomist, nor chemist, nor 
physiologist ; but he gives us, as any one can do with 
a good library at hand, a clear and concise conception 
of the nervous system, taken mostly from Dr. Lionel 
Seal's works ; and in reference to the number of the 
nerves, holds the following language : 

" We may now judge of the immense multiplica- 
tion of nerve elements in the brain and nerves. 
Estimates have been made of the number of fibers 
in individual nerves. The third cerebral nerve (the 
common molor of the eye) is supposed to have as 
many as fifteen thousand fibers. In the sensory the 
fibers are smaller, and in the large nerve of sight — the 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 263 

optic nerve — the number must be very great, prob- 
ably not less than one hundred thousand, and perhaps 
much more. The number of fibers making up the 
whole substance of the brain must be counted by 
hundreds of millions. In this enormous multiplica- 
tion of independent nerve elements we seem to have 
the suitable provision for the vast number of actions 
of human beings as above exemplified." 

The next point which Mr. Bain makes emphatic in 
regard to nerves is the undisputed fact that " nerve 
elements, fiber, and corpuscle are material in their 
composition and quality." He then defines nerve 
force as follows: 

" This is an agent with various powers— mechanical 
agency, heat agency, chemical agency— all which are 
due to the molecular action of the nerve substance, 
the complement of the change being a supply of 
blood in proportion to the force set free." 

The nerves are not agents, but instruments ; of 
" molecular action " and nerve forces and currents 
nothing is known. 

Mr. Bain next proceeds "to the tracery of corre- 
spondence and concomitance between mental acts and 
bodily changes." Consistency required him to say be- 
tween bodily changes producing mental results, for 
that is the goal toward which he is directing his course. 

After a survey of the five sense organs, showing 
their connection with the nerves, he draws this con- 
clusion : " Facts such as these show how deeply the 



264 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

mental character may be affected by the structure of 
the Material organs." 

The next point considered is, the correspondence 
between Mind and Body in respect to their. mode of 
action. He says : 

" By a series of very ingenious and conclusive ex- 
periments the rate of passage of the nerve force has 
been shown to be about ninety feet per second ; " and 
the following is the conclusion of the argument above 
condensed, italics mine : 

" In short the Mind is completely at the mercy of 
the hodily condition • there is no trace of a separate, 
independent, self-supporting spiritual agent, rising 
above the fluctuations of the corporeal frame." 
. We make no apology for allowing Mr. Bain to 
state, in his own carefully chosen words, in every 
case, his premises, argument, and conclusion. 

§ 6. The Fallacy of Bain's Argument Exposed. 

If the above Materialistic conception of man is cor- 
rect, then much light may be thrown upon his struct- 
ure by examining him simply as a machine, as there 
must be much in the complex structure of his body 
which corresponds with other mechanical structures. 

Let us weigh well and make emphatic the words of 
Mr. Bain : " The Mind is completely at the mercy ot 
the bodily condition ; " " no trace of a separate spirit- 
ual agent rising above the fluctuations of the cor- 
poreal frame." 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 2G5 

The Body is, then, like a musical instrument — piano 
or organ ; outward conditions or circumstances, " a 
straw," " a feather," or a " pinch," are the musicians 
manipulating the keys — the nerves ; and physical _ac- 
tion, such as thought, will, and emotion, is the music. 
As an organ is quiescent without a player, so the 
body is dependent upon the external influences of 
" a pinch," or contact with something, to start the 
nervous thrill, and thus generate thought and action. 

The thermometer is a machine designed to mark 
temperature. The movement of the mercury up and 
down in the glass tube indicates thermal changes in 
the air. The change of temperature is the cause, the 
action of the mercury the effect, and the measure 
of the motion of the mercury is in exact accordance 
with the force of its cause, and hence the value of 
that instrument. 

Like the thermometer, Mr. Bain's material man is a 
piece of complicated mechanism ; the same force upon 
the body will produce uniform results ; different forces 
a different result, for, as he says, " the Mind is com- 
pletely at the mercy of the bodily condition," and 
there is not " a trace of a self-supporting spiritual 
agent " there. 

A water-wheel is, by itself, a piece of inert mechan- 
ism. I let fall upon it a few drops of water, but 
there is no motion ; I increase the quantity to some 
gallons and a slight motion follows ; I then slowly 
lift the flume-gate and the motion is greatly in- 



266 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

creased, and the velocity it acquires depends upon 
the momentum of the water falling upon it. In 
precisely the same way, Mr. Bain teaches, bodily 
irritations produce mental action : not Mind as sub- 
stance, but thought, will, and feeling — physical ex- 
citations. 

A given quantity of heat applied to a kettle filled 
with water causes the liquid to boil ; now this boiling 
of the water is not an agent, but a state, and it 
illustrates exactly Mr. Bain's conception of a living, 
thinking man. The white and gray matter of the 
brain when stimulated or irritated to the thinking- 
point, produce mental phenomena as the seething, 
bubbling results. 

Had our author prefaced his treatise on Mind and 
Body as follows, we should not call in question any 
of his statements : " Having accompanied Mr. Gulli- 
ver in his voyage to the Island Lilliput, and spent 
some years in the study of the physical and mental 
structure of the Lilliputians, I propose to give a full 
and exact description of this remarkable people. 
Though human in appearance, and sometimes brill- 
iant in intellect — for they have their Homer, Shakes- 
peare, and Bacon — they are, in fact, automatons ; 
they have a way of winding each other up when work 
is needed, and then they run for awhile, like clock- 
work, till finally a further winding up becomes a 
necessity." But, as the foundation of this philosophy 
is our own consciousness, we know, to an absolute 



Materialistic Conception or Man. 207 

certainty, that its most important features are not 
true. Our consciousness contradicts him at every 
step in his argument. If he is not writing of Swift's 
Lilliputians, he has before him some other imaginary 
people, and not the real man we know. 

But, if Mr. Bain's conception of man, as above 
illustrated, corresponds with consciousness, let us ac- 
cept it, for truth is the object of our search. Let us, 
however, first test the assertion that " Mind is wholly 
subject to the bodily condition, and that there is not 
a trace of a self-supporting spiritual agent there." 
Prof. Bain takes us into the realm of observed facts, 
and to facts will we go. 

Some years ago I was among the Sac Indians, and 
learned, from a missionary, that the following inci- 
dent had transpired but a few days before my 
arrival. An old chief having died, a successor had 
been chosen by the usual method. Not every one was 
qualified for this high office, and the virtue of each 
candidate must be thoroughly tested. What the 
aspirants for chieftainship needed to success as candi- 
dates was, steadfastness of nerve, indifference to pain, 
and an unyielding endurance. Few were the candi- 
dates who presented themselves, for none relished the 
test of fitness. A son of the deceased chief was the 
first to enter the list of competitors ; his back was 
laid bare, hickory gads of second growth, six feet in 
length, were brought forth by a rival candidate ; and 
now, if on his naked back he could receive ten blows 



268 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

from that whip, wielded by the strong arm of a stal- 
wart Indian, without wincing, or showing the slightest 
sign of pain, he was to be declared chief, unless the 
prize could be taken from him by a more hardy com- 
petitor. The first blow buried the whip in the back of 
the Indian, and the blood spurted into the air ; the 
second cut a gash, ragged and bleeding, more than one 
foot in length, but not a muscle of his face quivered or 
moved, nor in any way did he betray an expression of 
pain. Deliberately the other eight blows were given, 
and with the same result. If the cutting of the skin, 
the tearing of muscles, and the laceration of nerves 
could bring the brain to a thinking or feeling state, 
and if the law of mechanics had prevailed, that Indi- 
an's cry of agony would have rent the air, and every 
muscle of the body would have shown sympathy with 
the lacerated parts. Can any candid mind say, that 
in this case " the Mind was completely at the mercy 
of the bodily condition," and that we " can see no trace 
of a separate, independent, self-supporting agent ris- 
ing above the fluctuations of the corporeal condi- 
tion ? " The " touch of the straw" and the " pinch- 
ing " were terrible, but no perceptible mental results 
followed ; the temperature rose high, but the mer- 
cury refused to move ; the fire under the kettle was 
hot, but the water refused to boil. The Indian man- 
ifested the presence of a mental force which was 
mighty in its supremacy over irritated nerves and 
lacerated muscles. To see the water-wheel stop, turn 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 2G9 

back, and drive the water up through the flume, and 
hold it there, would be a marvelous sight ; but not 
more so than to see the Indian's control of his nerves 
and muscles, on the hypothesis of Materialism. The 
truth is, Mr. Bain's proposition is squarely arrayed 
against the experience of every human being — it is 
ridiculous, and every Materialist should be ashamed 
of such an argument. 

Let us vary the scene. Men of thought, on horse- 
back, have been known to ride into rivers at fording- 
places, unconscious of their situation till the sinking 
horse brought the water over their saddles. In such 
cases did not the water mechanically set the nerves in 
motion ? If mental action follows physical action, as 
effect follows its cause, why was there no sensation, 
no consciousness, no thought, no feeling ? As the 
water came in contact with the lower limbs, not less 
than a million of the nerves of the body were excited, 
and yet the result of these forces in producing mental 
action amounted to nothing. In the mean time, 
without any nervous irritation whatever, the Mind of 
these men was absorbed in solving some problem of 
science or philosophy. Millions of such and similar 
facts have occurred, and they demonstrate that " Mind 
is not completely at the mercy of the bodily condi- 
tion," but that there is present " a separate, inde- 
pendent, and self-supporting agent," which "rises 
above the fluctuations of the corporeal frame." Sol- 
diers, in the heat of battle, have been wounded, 



270 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

but have fought on till the field was won, uncon- 
scious that their own life-blood was flowing upon 
the ground. 

Mr. Bain's statements are proved to be untrue by 
two far-reaching and indisputable facts : 

1. By the control which the Mind has over the 
body, not only in ordinary circumstances, but even 
when the torn and lacerated nerves cause the most 
excruciating agony. 

2. By the Mind's isolation from the body when 
laboring with some difficult but unsolved problem ; 
and by its unconsciousness of violence done to the 
body, because it is otherwise engaged. 

But let us test the soundness of Prof. Bain's prin- 
ciples on a lower plane of being, where the physical 
impulses are stronger, and the mental power to con- 
trol it is far less. If there is any truth in them, or if 
they have an application anywhere, let us find them. 
If he is correct in teaching that the mental corre- 
sponds to the corporeal, as effect to cause, then the 
act of a wolf springing upon a sheep, or a lion upon 
its prey, may be explained upon mechanical princi- 
ples. A comparison of the facts of nature with his 
hypothesis will show that not even wild beasts are so 
low down as to be subject to mechanical law, or to 
the forces of mere Matter. 

On Mr. Bain's theory, when the image of the sheep 
strikes the optic nerve of the wolf a measure of ex- 
citement and action must follow ; if the olfactory 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 271 

nerves of the wolf are also smitten, its action must be 
increased ; and if the bleating of the sheep has caused 
an additional shock to its auditory nerve, at least 
three fifths of the nerves of the animal must be under 
the most powerful "irritation;" there must be an 
irresistible rush of '"nerve-currents" upon the mus- 
cles, affecting every organ, tissue, and drop of blood 
in the animal, and we might expect the hungry beast 
would become furious, and fly through the air with 
open mouth, and that, in a moment, the sheep would 
lie bleeding at its feet. But what are the facts of the 
case ? Is the action of physical law observable ? Let 
us see. The wolf scents the sheep, but stands stock- 
still, snuffing the air to be sure of the direction ; then 
slowly creeps along, through hiding-places, it gets to 
the leeward of its prey ; then calmly surveys the situ- 
ation, as if inquiring if the shepherd's dogs are near ; 
now it sees the sheep approaching, and crouches upon 
the ground ; it keeps out of sight ; the sheep bleats, 
but the wolf does not stir : the smiting of its optic, ol- 
factory, and auditory nerves has no perceptible effect 
upon its muscles ; the supreme moment has not yet 
come, but it is near. Changing its position, unob- 
served, and now sure of its prey, the wolf springs 
upon the sheep, and its blood smites the sense of 
taste, setting in motion another class of nerves. The 
nerves of touch are also smitten, and the whole ma- 
chinery of the wolf is " irritated " and excited to the 
utmost, and what does it do ? Quietly and calmly 



272 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

it eats its meal, then carries what is left to its den. 
The cat and the lion crouch for their prey, and qui- 
etly wait till the supreme moment comes, then shoot 
their bodies through the air and seize it. A some- 
thing, not the Matter of their bodies, seems to have 
over all their actions an absolute, suppressing, direct- 
ing, and controlling power. 

The facts of nature are squarely opposed to Mr. 
Bain's theory. Even the brutes, if they could speak, 
would disclaim it. 

And yet this hypothesis is the basis of Material- 
istic philosophy. Mechanical forces, chemical affinity, 
the supposed " nerve currents," whatever they may 
be— electricity, magnetism, "external irritations" — 
can give to the body no special direction, unless they 
are associated with intelligence and will. A slight ir- 
ritation, as made by "a feather" — a little action, phys- 
ical and mental — a severe " irritation," as a "pinch " — ■ 
violent agitation, physical and mental — is the Materi- 
alistic summation of the phenomena of the entire 
man. How a philosopher can so far ignore his 
own consciousness, and so blind himself to the thou- 
sands of facts which daily surround him as to be 
able to write such things without a smile or a blush, 
is a mystery. But the more determined one is to 
establish a theory, the more blinded he becomes to 
opposing considerations which lie across his path. 
On no other ground can we award to Mr. Bain the 
credit of even sincerity. 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 273 

§ 7. 3£iscellaneous Consider attorn. 

Although chapter VI is wholly devoted to a con- 
sideration of the power Mind has over Body, com- 
pletely turning the tables upon Mr. Bain, it will be 
proper to close this chapter with a further consid- 
eration of the same subject. If it can be made clear 
that the Body is an object which is passively acted 
upon, it follows that there must be a something — a 
Real — somewhere, that is the subject of such action. 

In the organism, per se, there is no stability. Take 
its Life away, and the work of decomposition and de- 
cay at once commences, and in a few days the beauti- 
ful human form is nothing but common dust. We 
may not be able so to trace their connection as to 
explain how the Life preserves the organic body for 
many years, but the fact can be disputed by none. 
Corruption is powerless while a spark of life remains. 
Gaze upon a human form that is prostrate, pale, and 
cold in death, and then behold a man in the midst of 
the battle of Life, and inquire, What constitutes the 
difference between them ? The one is an expression of 
Matter, the other of Matter animated by Life. In the 
one are the forces of Matter, in the other the forces of 
Life. The Matter and its forces are the same in both ; 
in the one Life is the all-controlling power ; in the 
other there is no life — the sway of Matter is com- 
plete. In parting with the conservative power of 

Life the body falls into a loathsome condition. 
18 



274 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

And the Body is not more under the influence of 
Life than of Mind. An idea in the Mind may cause 
the heart to ache. Men and women have wrung 
their hands in physical agony when not a touch had 
been inflicted upon their sentient nature. A thought 
in the Mind may pierce the Body like a stiletto. 
History is full of illustrations of the power Mind has 
over the Body. An idea in the Mind, though false, 
and indicative of incipient insanity, may so afflict 
the Body as to derange the vital organs, and cause 
death. "Died of a broken heart" means, died by 
the action of Mind upon the Body. 

The corrupt king of Babylon sees the hand as it 
writes letters and words upon the wall — to him it was 
the pointing of the finger of fate — so much he could 
interpret, and that idea in his mind changed his coun- 
tenance, made his body tremble, and transformed the 
banquet-hall into a place of gloom. Not a " feather," 
not a "pinch," had touched him, but an idea of im- 
pending doom in the Mind so acted upon the Body, 
that the "joints of his loins were loosed, and his 
knees smote one against another." 

And yet in the face of these and similar facts 
which might be added by the thousand, Mr. Bain 
assures us that " the Mind is completely at the mercy 
of the bodily condition ! " The reverse of his state- 
ment is the absolute truth. 

That Body may be reached, and made to suffer 
even unto death through the Mind, has so often been 



Mateeialistic Conception of Man. 275 

demonstrated that none should deny it. Though far 
from the scene of action, hearing not a gun, seeing 
not a drop of blood, the Battle of Austerlitz gave 
William Pitt, the prime-minister of England, his 
death-wound. The ideas in his Mind of Austria's 
overthrow", England's shame, the aggrandizement of 
France, and fields of slaughtered men, struck down 
his physical frame. Not a " feather," nor a " pinch," 
nor any thing from without, irritated his body to 
cause it to generate thought or feeling; but the 
thought that Napoleon seemed invincible, which the 
Mind itself had grasped, independent of physical irri- 
tation, smote his body, and drove him to his sick- 
chamber. It is said, that from that day on, till his 
death, Austerlitz could be read upon his face. 

If Man is, as Mr. Bain teaches, a machine, subject 
to physical and mechanical law, we should suppose 
that he might be governed accordingly. In the mech- 
anism of a watch, or of a saw-mill, we know exactly 
what to depend upon ; we know the function of each 
part of the machinery, and are not disappointed. 
Why may we not play upon men and children as we 
do upon an organ and other machines % Was the 
attempt ever made to direct man's course by a con- 
tinuous physical irritation? Practical Materialism 
requires that such a system of education should super- 
sede moral instruction. Prof. Huxley has had much 
to say of education, but has he ever put in practice 
the system Mr. Bain teaches \ We would like to see 



276 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

him in a school or political convention trying to di- 
rect action and inspire thought by the use of " feath- 
ers," straws, " nippers," or any other tools he might 
choose to employ. 

If Life and Mind are only the results of a stim- 
ulated or irritated physical organism, such superb 
terms as Soul, Spirit, Mind, Reason, Thought, Con- 
science, and Will should be stricken from all the lan- 
guages of civilized life. Their use tends to ignorance, 
superstition, and fraud ; or if used, they should be 
brought down on a level with such words as digestion, 
perspiration, respiration, assimilation, and never con- 
vey the idea of Yital substance or of any thing but the 
affections of Matter. But while I am conscious that 
I command my hand as I do my pen, I .shall use a 
vocabulary whose pregnant meaning lies at the base 
of nine tenths of the world's literature. 

Both science and common-sense have always, and 
every- where, regarded Matter as clothed with a set of 
properties peculiar to itself, such as extension, divisi- 
bility, gravity, form, and color; and to Life and Mind 
have been ascribed another set of properties wholly 
different from those accredited to Matter, such as 
thought, consciousness, will, joy, desire, aversion, 
hope, fear, and despair. Is it even conceivable that 
a unit of Matter can possess this double set of diverse 
properties ? To ascribe the properties of Life to 
Matter, is to destroy all proper conceptions of Matter; 
the idea of a material Mind excludes all proper con- 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 277 

ceptions of Mind; and the further idea that both sets 
of properties can have, the same basal cause, is the 
extreme of absurdity. 

But the fact is palpable, that in the Mind are affec- 
tions which are wholly unknown to the body, and in 
the body affections which are purely physical in their 
nature and effects. The emotions of peace, love, hope, 
joy, gratitude, trust, an approving conscience, all pleas- 
ant emotions, have their origin in the Soul. The body 
may participate in the cause and effect of this glad- 
ness, but the gladness is purely psychical, containing 
no element of the sensational, and can have its seat 
only in the Mind. 

If Life and thought result from mechanical law, as 
Mr. Bain teaches, then the mental capacity of man 
might be inferred, or calculated from mathematical 
measurements of the body. A firm osseous structure, 
a well-developed muscular system, the health perfect, 
and the supply of food in quality and quantity all 
that could be desired, would furnish the data for the 
calculation. We have men of different caliber, and 
engines of different "horse power," and as the latter 
machine is susceptible of exact measurement, why not 
the former? If fifty pounds of nerve and muscle, 
subjected to a one-pound irritant, during three hours, 
produce x quantity of thought, the same amount of 
nerve and muscle in another man, subject to a two- 
pound irritant, for the same length of time, ought to 
produce 2x quantity of thought. 



278 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

If there is any truth in this philosophy, such calcu- 
lations would be its practical outcome. But, again, 
the facts are all the other way. In thousands of 
instances man has manifested great intellectual vigor 
when the body was faint with fasting and disease. 
Brilliancy of intellect and decrepit old age are not 
unfrequently found together. According to Mr. 
Bain's teaching, the pugilists of the land ought to be 
our statesmen, poets, artists, and philosophers. 

Mr. Bain undertakes to explain our pains and 
pleasures by the facts of nerve irritations. He says, 
the nervous " thrill " which produces pain must be 
the opposite of the " thrill " which causes pleasure ; 
but all this amounts to nothing, inasmuch as nerve 
"thrills" and nerve "currents" are the mere figments 
of his imagination. Physiology knows of nothing of 
the kind. The fact is, violence done a nerve pro- 
duces pain ; sympathetic or harmonious stimulants 
applied to nerves produce pleasure. And then a 
sharp distinction is to be made between physical and 
psychical sensations — rheumatic pains, the head-ache, 
suffering from a blow, from the amputation of a 
limb, are clearly physical, though the consciousness 
of these pains is in the Mind. If we suffer from fear, 
disappointment, the loss of loved ones, remorse, de- 
spair, we know that the seat of the pain is in the 
Mind, and that the body is affected only indirectly 
by its presence. Blistering the body would be no 
counter-irritant to the pains of remorse, and no silent, 



Materialistic Conception of Man. 279 

soothing idea could reach the aching nerve of a tooth. 
In each case our consciousness of the seat of the pain 
is as clear as that it exists. 

Look at this subject as we may, the Body is one 
thing, and has its limits ; the Mind is something else. 
The conception of man, as a physical unit, is an out- 
rage on consciousness and common sense. All the 
relations of man's physical nature are of a physical 
character; the relations of the Mind are wholly of the 
incorporeal kind. The one is the symbol of a vital 
world, of which it forms a part ; the other of a mate- 
rial realm, of which it forms a part. Their association 
implies relations, not a loss or blending of essences. 



280 Matter, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MATERIALISTIC PROCESS OP ELIMINATING MIND PROM 
BODY. 

" The development of Mind, both in individuals and through gen- 
erations, is a gradual process of organization — a process in which 
Matter is undergoing her latest and most consummate develop- 
ment." — Maudslbt. 

"Let a man be given to the contemplation of one sort of knowledge, 
and that will become every thing. The Mind will take such a tincture 
from a familiarity with that object that every thing else, how remote 
soever, will be brought under the same view." — Locke. 



¥ 



1. The Wrestling of Materialists with their Problem. 
E are not yet through with Mr. Bain. Not 



satisfied with his labors to prove that organic 
Man is, vitally, a unit of substance, the bold attempt 
was made by this acute Scotchman to solve the prob- 
lems of Mind and its phenomena on the basis of 
Physiology. Materialists cannot deny that in man 
appear phenomena so unlike the phenomena of Mat- 
ter, that they can be symbolized only by a special set 
of terms, such as Life, Mind, Feeling, and Will ; and 
the task they undertake is, to account for them by 
the operation of the forces and laws of Matter. They 
carry an exposition of organic Matter so far as to em- 
brace in its properties all the functions of Life and 
Mind. They conceive man to be an organic body, 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 281 

composed wholly of Matter, which lives, feels, and 
thinks; and we freely concede, that if mental phe- 
nomena can, without the possibility of error, be ac- 
counted for on the basis of Matter, there is nothing 
more to be said on the subject. But we are not will- 
ing yet to admit that Materialists have made this 
point and settled the controversy. We think that the 
supposed basal facts of their argument are mere fic- 
tions, and their conclusions not warranted. 

The advocates of this philosophy are Professors 
Bain, Maudsley, Biichner, Lewes, the triumvirate 
Tyndall, Huxley, and Spencer, and many others. 
The German, French, and especially the English lan- 
guages have been exhausted by men of great learn- 
ing and ability to set forth these views. 

Prof. Bain, the boldest and acntest of these au- 
thors, goes directly to his subject, never leaves it, nor 
leaves unsaid any thing which can be pressed into its 
support ; and we confer a favor upon his colleagues 
and their cause by allowing him to speak as the repre- 
sentative of both. An examination of the peculiar 
philosophy he unfolds, as a means of freeing the body 
from the presence of a Mental Substance, will fully 
lay bare the foundation on which Materialism rests. 

One of the corner-stones of Mr. Bain's structure is 
expressed as follows : " For every mental shock, every 
awakening of consciousness, every mental transition, 
there must be a concomitant nervous shock ; and 
as one is more or less intense, so must the other 



282 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

be." * Mr. Bain's meaning is, that every mental act 
is but the result — the response, the echo — of a nerv- 
ous shock. Nerves, the cause — thoughts, arguments, 
and feelings, the results. As light emanates from the 
blaze of a lamp, so out of nerve shocks has come the 
thinking of the human race. 

§ 2. The Strategy of the Argument. 

In Mind Mr. Bain recognizes " Intellect, Will, and 
Feeling." He says : " Although in tracing out the 
bodily accompaniments of Mind we shall view the 
three powers in separation, we may expect to find cer- 
tain great laws pervading the whole." This position- 
is strategic, and unfolds the policy of the argument. 
These all " pervading great laws " are simply nerve 
forces, and are so to be used as to merge Intellect, Will, 
and Feeling into one physical sensation ; and thus the 
work of eliminating the living spirit from the body 
will be greatly simplified and abbreviated. If some 
act of the Mind can be associated with a " nervous 
shock," the conclusion will be drawn that all mental 
phenomena are nothing but modifications of nervous 
action. 

Inasmuch as the entire force of this argument is to 
rest on the facts and potency of " nerve currents," or 
nervo-molecular action, Mr. Bain cannot properly 
proceed one step in his argument till he has demon- 
strated that these nervous "shocks," "currents," or 

* " Mind and Body," p. 43. 



Eliminating Mind fkom Body. 283 

some sncli action, really takes place. Our best phys- 
iologists, including Dr. Tyndall and Geo. H. Lewes, 
of Mr. Bain's school of thought, declare that the 
nerve action here posited, as the base of a great ar- 
gument, is a myth and wholly unknown to science. 
Prof. Bain was a teacher of logic, and wholly de- 
pendent upon others for his physiological data ; and 
his nerve currents are simply the creatures of his 
imagination. 

As we advance let us not forget that the entire 
foundation of Mr. Bain's argument is a fiction — a 
mere figment of his brain — his colleagues in science 
being judges. This single fact would shame out of 
countenance any philosophy but this. 

§ 3. The Issue Joined. 

Still drawing upon his imagination, Mr. Bain says: 
" It would seem natural to suppose that the nerves 
pass from the state of perfect repose to a state of 
greater or less activity, or excitement, according as 
they are roused by stimulation ; and that we are 
made conscious accordingly, while the remission of the 
stimulus and their own exhaustion tend to quiescence 
and to unconsciousness." We join issue squarely 
with Mr. Bain, appealing to every man's conscious- 
ness for our support, and assert that it is not a fact 
that man is in an unconscious state unless "roused by 
stimulation ; " nor is it true that, if stimulated by 
external irritations, the remission of the stimulant 



284 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

tends to unconsciousness. The application of a rod 
to a boy's legs stimulates the nerves, creating a pain- 
ful sensation ; but the quieting of the nerves and the 
passing away of the smart has no tendency to leave 
him in an unconscious state ; rather he is more play- 
ful than when sulkily enduring the pain. The consti- 
tution of an habitual drunkard may oscillate between 
the extremes of action and stupidity ; but from such 
isolated ruins of humanity we are not to form our 
conception of the normal man. 

Were Mr. Bain speaking, not of the activities of 
consciousness, but of the physical changes and transi- 
tions from sleep to wakefulness, from weariness to 
rest, and from sickness to health, his statement would 
be nearer the truth, still far from it. Man is a living 
being, he lives all the time, not by fits and starts, and 
is not dependent upon the " rousing " effects of 
" stimulants " for conscious existence : and he is as 
conscious that he possesses an inward self-moving and 
a self-directing power as that he exists. He is an 
individual, a unit of being, complete in himself, and 
the tendency of stimulants, especially if violent, is to 
throw him out of his normal condition into a state 
of confusion. In our calmest moments conscious 
thought is the clearest, the strongest, and the most 
active. 

If " nerve currents " exist as a part of our constitu- 
tional structure, is not the body, irrespective of out- 
ward stimulants, always under their influence ? Have 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 285 

they nothing to do with the beating of the heart, the 
action of the lungs, digestion, nutrition, the secre- 
tions, and the circulation of the blood? It is essen- 
tial that Mr. Bain establish the point that conscious- 
ness is nothing but the excitement of the nerves ; 
and if that were a fact, consciousness would exist in 
sleep (if the theory would admit of sleep), and espe- 
cially whenever any substance came in contact with 
the body. Not only are the nerve currents a myth- 
but the facts of experience and observation are in 
opposition to Mr. Bain's theory. 

§ 4. Consciousness the Ground of Judgment. 

In all propositions of this kind arguments pro and 
con are useless, for as we can do no more than make 
an appeal to Consciousness, its decisions are absolute 
and final. Is it not a fact, attested by the experience 
of every one, that when in the tumult of agitation 
because of excited nerves, man is not mentally in 
his normal or best condition ? Is he not utterly dis- 
qualified for high intellectual work ? The fact is, the 
seat of consciousness is no more in the nerves than 
in the bones or blood. Physical sensations of all 
varieties have their origin in the nerves, though the 
one or uniform conscious knowledge of the sensation 
is in the Mind — the single intelligence. Mind is the 
seat of all thought and feeling, the Body of all sensa- 
tions ; and Consciousness takes cognizance of both 
classes of phenomena, and on the instant distin- 



286 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

guishes between them. Mr. Bain's strategy will fail 
him, for we shall not permit physical sensation to 
pass as the sum of human consciousness, rendering 
Mind superfluous. 

Mr. Bain says : " On this hypothesis our concep- 
tion is, that when all the currents of the brain are 
equally balanced and continued at the same pitch — 
when no one is commencing, increasing, or abating 
— consciousness is null — Mind is quiescent." 

The base of this " conception " is the myth em- 
braced in the words " currents of the brain ; " and the 
"hypothesis" which makes "consciousness null," 
when we know it is active, and " Mind quiescent," 
when it may be putting forth a supreme effort in the 
solution of some problem, is not worthy of " decent 
respect." 

We can always draw a sharp distinction between 
the affections of the Mind, such as thought, fancy, 
will, joy, sorrow, hope, fear; and between the affec- 
tions of the Body, as hunger, thirst, a headache, 
a toothache, the pain of a broken leg or arm ; 
and Consciousness never mistakes the one class of 
phenomena, or any member thereof, for the other. 
A man with a jumping toothache never calls for a 
poultice of metaphysics. The mental effort required 
to solve a problem in " Euclid's Geometry " is quite 
different from the grief we feel at the loss of a 
child ; nor can the pain of a broken limb be mistaken 
for the feeling of the heart aching with grief. The 



Eliminating Mind feom Body. 287 

nerves are doubtless the basis of physical sensations ; 
Consciousness infallibly assures us that Thought, Will, 
and Feeling spring from another source. Mr. Bain 
is putting forth a supreme effort to make the ex- 
pression " stimulated nerves " convey the idea of 
" mental action," and in this way force into psychol- 
ogy a Materialistic terminology. This, with our con- 
sent he will not be able to do. 

§ 5. The Disposition made of the 'Will. 

He disposes of the Will as follows : " The distin- 
guishing peculiarity of our voluntary movements is, 
that they take their rise in feeling, and are guided by 
intellect ; hence, so far as Will is concerned, the prob- 
lem of physical and mental concomitance is still the 
problem of feeling and intellect." This sentence is 
the most shuffling clog of words in Mr. Bain's book. 
On page forty-three he recognizes in Mind the three 
departments of Intellect, Will, and Feeling, and prom- 
ises " to view them in separation ; " but, as we pre- 
dicted, the Will is abolished — merged into and swal- 
lowed up by the emotional department of the Mind. 
Intellect thinks, and can do nothing but handle 
thoughts ; Will determines action, and can neither 
think nor feel ; Feeling is feeling, and nothing else ; 
it cannot think, nor does it dictate any thing. But, 
by arbitrarily merging Will into Feeling, he removes a 
mountain out of his pathway, and it only remains to 
dispose of Intellect. At present Mr. Bain's argument 



288 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

stands thus : Feeling is a physical or nervous sensa- 
tion, and has its seat in the Body ; the "Will " takes its 
rise in feeling," and may, therefore, be regarded as a 
physical sensation. Two departments of the Mind 
are thus disposed of on Materialistic principles, and 
only one remains. 

But let us pause a moment and consult Conscious- 
ness, the only oracle authorized to speak in this case. 
In a certain situation appetite and passion, both 
strongly stimulated, urge a man to a given, but for- 
bidden, course ; Reason, supported by Conscience, 
perceives the wrong involved, and judicially decides 
accordingly, but can go no further; Mind stands 
poised and trembling for a few moments on the 
pivotal idea of ought, feeling inclining strongly 
toward the wrong ; and now the whole responsibility 
of what shall be done is thrown upon the Will. The 
emotional or impulsive in his nature leads one away, 
but Reason coolly decides that that way is wrong, and 
ought not to be taken ; now Will, imperious and 
cold, as dictator comes to the front, and decides what 
action shall be taken, and if that action is right, Will 
as one power is arrayed squarely against Feeling as 
another, and therefore cannot be emotional in nature. 
Mr. Bain's philosophy would annihilate this part of 
man's nature, and take from him the basis of all re- 
sponsibility. 

We are aware that many people are the yielding 
victims of passion and appetite, but such facts only 



Eliminating Mind fkom Body. 289 

prove that in them the Will has not assumed the 
proper ascendency over their lives. 

Prof. Bain still further expatiates upon the Will. 
He says : " The primitive basis of the Feeling which 
we call Will is the surplus nervous power of the 
system discharging itself, without waiting for the 
prompting of sensation." Hail, ye metaphysi- 
cians living ! and hail, ye shades of the dead ! the 
Will at last is found, and defined ; it is the self-dis- 
charge of the surplus energy of the system ! The 
discharge is effected without the excitement produced 
by stimulants; the gun goes off of itself, and how 
can any one tell what will be the direction of the 
nervous power excited ? On this theory, how is it that 
men of great will power have been noted for coolness 
and long-continued steadiness of action ? The " dis- 
charge" of a gun, on the instant, exhausts its force, 
but real will power may exist scores of years without 
respite or change. 

Every Mind that is able clearly to discriminate be- 
tween Intellect, Will, and Emotion, is conscious that 
Intellect does all the thinking ; that every shade of 
feeling belongs to the Emotional department ; and 
that in Will there is nothing but a clear, calm, cold 
decision in reference to any one of two or more acts 
to be performed. The Will has nothing to do in de- 
ciding what is right and what is wrong — that is 
purely a Matter of Reason ; and whatever feeling may 

attend the act of the Will, it is no part of Will, but 
19 



290 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

arises from the emotional part of the Mind. Mr. 
Bain's philosophy has no application to fact except 
in the automatic movements of infants in whom will 
power has not been developed. 

On page seventy-seven the same ground, with 
slight variations in the way of illustrations, is gone 
over again. He says : " We want a kind of activity 
that shall start forth at any time when pleasure is to 
be secured or pain to be banished, and that shall be 
directed to the very points where these effects can be 
commanded. For such a power we must refer to the 
great fundamental law of Pleasure and Pain." 

Physical Pleasure and Pain start nervous currents 
(myths by the way) which mechanically produce a 
physical sensation, and this sensation is Will. Nerve 
currents — a sensation, the cause; Will, the effect. 
Emotion and Will are now wholly in the body as a 
part of its phenomena. The sting of a wasp causes a 
nervous thrill of pain ; an inflammation, a kind of 
activity, ensues, and that inflammation, embracing 
the " great law of pain," is Will. That local Will — 
that is, a pain — prompts the hand to kill the wasp. 
Traced back Mr. Bain's argument is as follows : Will 
is merged and swallowed up in Feeling, Feeling is a 
physical sensation produced *by hypothetical " nerve 
currents." Nerves stimulated by pleasure or pain 
produce both Will and Feeling, and they are thus 
properties of Matter. 

Before this conception of man can gain credit there 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 291 

must be : 1. A complete revolution in Psychology 
and mental Philosophy. 2. The uniform decision of 
the consciousness of mankind must be pronounced 
false and misleading. At present our convictions are 
decided that human power is of two classes, physical 
and mental, and that Will determines as between two 
or more acts that may be performed. 3. Especially 
must we discard the idea that Will is a responsible 
directive power, and abolish all distinction between 
virtue and vice. 

§ 6. The Intellect as viewed by Materialists. 

Mr. Bain passes to consider the Physical Basis of 
Intellect. He states, as follows, the doctrine he is 
about to combat: "But thought is at times so far 
removed from the bodily condition that we might 
suppose it conducted in a region of pure spirit, 
merely imparting its conclusions through a material 
intervention." 

This is a fair statement of the conception Spiritists 
entertain of the origin of thought, and Mr. Bain is 
candid in letting us know what he rejects as well as 
the ground he occupies. He says, further : " Unfor- 
tunately for this supposition, the fact is now generally 
admitted, that thought exhausts the nervous substance 
as surely as walking exhausts the muscles." 

The position of Yitalists in regard to the relations 
of Mind and Body is persistently misunderstood by 
Materialists. We recognize fully the fact that the 



292 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Mind is locally associated with the brain, and the fact 
that the labor of thinking exhausts nervous substance 
is exactly what might be expected. If currents, 
electrical, or of any other kind, pertain to the nerves, 
they are largely under the control of the Mind. My 
arm is now at rest ; I can allow it to remain so, or, 
through the voluntary nerves, by some means un- 
known, set it in motion, or move my whole body, just 
as I may will to do. Mind, by or through the use of 
nerves, acts upon a separate muscle in the production 
of each separate note in a most complicated piece of 
music. The habitual and almost constant method of 
the Mind's conscious action in this Life is through 
the material organism, and we contend as strongly 
as Mr. Bain can desire, that severe and protracted 
study tends to weary and exhaust the power of the 
nerves. A considerable portion of the brain mass 
is living protoplasm ; this is heavily charged with 
electro-nerve force, and this or some other force, to- 
gether with the bodily Life, may serve as the con- 
necting link between Mind and Body. On our own 
hypothesis it might be expected that mental action 
would exhaust the bioplasts of the brain and nerves, 
and that physical weariness would follow. 

As we foresaw, Mr. Bain's method of eliminating 
"Will and Feeling from the body is also to be used in 
getting rid of Intellect, or accounting for it as a 
property of Matter. He says : " In the position 
already advanced in respect to the Feelings and the 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 293 

Will, we have also some of the physiological founda- 
tions of thought." Again : " When any new [nerve] 
currents are commenced, or when existing currents 
are increased or abated, we become mentally alive, 
and if we are already conscious, a change comes over 
our consciousness. It can easily be made apparent 
that Discrimination is the very beginning of our in- 
tellectual Life." 

Mr. Bain writes for effect, and is careful not to 
give offense by the use of unbefitting words ; and his 
real ideas are sometimes slipped into a sentence like 
the giving of sugar-coated pills to a sick girl ; but, 
whatever his chosen language, his meaning is exactly 
what is more frankly expressed by Yogt in the fol- 
lowing sentence : " Thought stands in the same rela- 
tion to the brain as the bile to the liver or urine to 
the kidneys. The appeal to a vital force is merely a 
paraphrasis of ignorance." Mentally man is dead, 
except when nerve currents are in action, as the result 
of some outward stimulant. Precisely as if he had 
said : An electric wire is alive while an electric cur- 
rent is passing over it ; at all other times it is dead. 
That is, there is not anywhere, nor at any time, a 
Mind, per se, and in the absence of the unknown 
nerve currents there is nothing mental. The act of 
" Discrimination," or variation in nerve currents, and 
Intellectual existence, are one and the same thing. 

" Discrimination " is a nervous act of perceiving, 
and this act has its origin in modified nerve currents. 



291 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

As one nerve current starts off it may take on the 
form of a goose ; another, with a slight variation, the 
form of a philosopher ; and an unusually quick and 
sharp " current " may be able to " discriminate " be- 
tween them. When this play of nerve currents shall 
cease Intellect dies, or ceases to be ; a fresh excite- 
ment of the nerves, produced by the application of 
some stimulant, revives it again. 

Certainly Mr. Bain presents very clearly his views 
of Mind and Body. We know exactly what he means, 
and, what is better still, the subject is brought within 
the limits of observation and experience. lie has 
given us an hypothesis that can be worked and its 
truthfulness tested in a thousand ways. Had he said 
that in the moon a machine was kept at work by 
Yaruna or Jupiter, which so acted upon the inter- 
stellar ether as to generate thought, will, and feeling 
in man, we could not deny it, as a journey to the 
moon for the purpose of investigation is not practi- 
cable. It is true we know no more about his "nerve 
currents" than we do about his machine in the moon, 
but then our mental operations are objects of Self- 
consciousness, not Induction. 

Now since Mind is disposed of by being reduced 
to a nonentity, nothing remains to be considered but 
Body and its capacity to think. We must assume 
that the carbon, sulphur, iron, potassium, phosphorus, 
oxygen, and other kinds of Matter which enter into 
the composition of the body, brought themselves 



Eliminating Mind feom Body. 295 

together and wrought themselves into the millions 
of organs that compose the structure. But difficult 
as this proposition is to be believed, it lias this advan- 
tage : when once fully embraced, such is the strength 
of our credulity that we can believe any thing our 
philosophy may require. 

The dissecting knife will not enable us to detect a 
trace of thought, or will, or feeling in the nerves any 
more than in the muscles or bones. We can distin- 
guish nerves from other parts of the body, and 
different classes of nerves from each other : as those 
which are in bundles of iibers and fibrils inclosed in 
a membrane as a sheath ; those which are clusters of 
cells, fibers, and fibrils, sometimes inclosed and some- 
times not ; and those which are artificial divisions 
of the nerve-axis, serving as points where different 
organs unite, and in many ways detect and trace out 
their physical functions ; but between nerve-energy 
and thought there is an impassable gulf — a gulf which 
the hypothetical " nerve currents " cannot pass. 

We must, then, in the light of Consciousness, limit 
our observations to the living, thinking man. What- 
ever the composition of the nerves may be, their 
energies are inherent in themselves ; nothing, not a 
nerve, can impart nerve force. The properties and 
forces of nerves indicate their only possible mode of 
existence as parts of an organism. According to the 
theory of Bell, each nerve has a specific energy, and 
it never acts except in that one way. It matters not 



296 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

how stimulated, the optic nerve responds only by a 
sensation of color, and the auditory nerve responds 
only by a sensation of sound. This doctrine has great 
credit with the physiologists of Europe, and were we 
sure of its truthfulness, we should urge upon Mr. 
Bain, or his disciples, the duty of pointing out the 
nerve of perception, the will nerve, the fancy nerve, 
and the nerve of logic. As no nerve force can be 
imparted to a nerve by other substances, the thoughts 
and acquirements of a Bacon and a Newton must have 
been innate in their knowledge nerves. Pity Locke 
could not have understood Mr. Bain's philosophy ! 

As "nerve currents " may be produced by external 
" irritations " — " rousing " up the ideas they contain — 
why have Ave not learned, ere this time, that poems 
and other works of genius may be inspired by briskly 
rubbing the body with a coarse towel or a body 
brush ? In case of a thick-hided philosopher, a wash 
in a decoction of red pepper or sulphuric acid might 
have the effect to cause the nerve " currents " to yield 
a flow of ideas. Do not schools, where the rod is used 
really practice this doctrine without knowing it ? 
Strange that Mr. Bain did not practice his own phi- 
losophy, and make himself a universal genius. Could 
he, in any one particular, have proved its truthful- 
ness, he would have saved it from contempt. 

According to this theory, ideas are as much a 
mechanical product as lumber or horseshoes. The 
nervous system is a wonderfully complicated piece 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 207 

of mechanism, and it stands related to many other 
systems of different kinds with which it is in con- 
stant action and interaction. In the process of 
knowing, what is the subjective Intelligence, or the 
Knower, and what the objective known ? Irritated 
nerves, the active cause ; ideas, the results. But 
why one kind or class of ideas rather than another ? 
What immense playing upon the nerves of Homer to 
produce the Iliad ! And must not the player have 
been an Intelligence to produce so grand a result ? 
Form a materialistic conception of the labor of the 
poet : the clash of machines — the Iliad the result ! 
In the product of this collision there is nothing of 
the machines either in substance or force, but some- 
thing else entirely foreign to both. Such as can be 
satisfied with such a process of knowing are welcome 
to their peace of mind. 

The mental phenomenon called Memory is thus ex- 
plained : " Retention " exists, "by virtue of specific 
growths in the cell junctions." ..." The special 
growths accompanying memory must operate at these 
cells or corpuscle junctions." What is here said of 
" specific growths at cell junctions " as the cause of 
"retention," has not the shadow of a known truth 
for its support. Not an experimental philosopher 
can be found who will indorse this statement as an 
accredited fact. As an explanation of the cause of 
Memory, this statement is utterly without value. 

Mr. Bain thus estimates the amount of knowledge 



298 Matter. Life, and Mind. 

that may be stored up by one man : " Acquisition has 
a limit determined by the amount of nervous sub- 
stance ; that is, the size and quantity of the brain." 

Is this statement true ? Newton, Byron, Marshall, 
and many other great men possessed a brain in size 
below medium. If the acquisition of knowledge has 
a physical limit, by the appropriation of brain sub- 
stance to the formation of ideas, why has no one ever 
knowingly reached that limit ? Mentally, man is to 
be considered as having brain stock in hand to sup- 
ply a want. When the brain "cells" are full and 
fastened, and the "nerve crossings" all occupied, 
there may be memory but no further thinking. "Was 
man in health ever known suddenly to reach a point 
from which further advancement in knowledge was 
impossible? And then, if knowledge is fixed brain 
matter, how can we forget or correct a mistake 1 To 
forget would be to lose or change a portion of the 
brain mass ; and what is the agent that can effect the 
change 1 It requires as much brain matter to put in 
form an error as a truth. Iron cast in one form can 
be remelted, then made to take another, but not so 
with the brain. Once cast it must remain fixed, or 
there could be no memory. 

Mr. Bain next compares "our acquisitions on the 
one hand with the number of nerve centers on the 
other, and finds that our knowledge as a whole repre- 
sents the great mass of our nerve growths." In proof 
of this statement he gives us nothing. He says still 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 299 

further: "As we can easily compute the number of 
words making up the vocabulary of a language, we 
have the means of setting forth, in a sort of numer- 
ical estimate, the extent of our acquisitions and the 
number of independent brain growths that correspond 
to these." A "rough estimate" is then made "of the 
nervous elements, fibers, and corpuscles, with a view 
to compare the number of these with the number of 
our acquisitions." * 

Let us hear him once more : " The thin cake of 
gray substance surrounding the hemisphere of the 
brain, and extended into many doublings by the fur- 
rowed or convoluted structure, is somewhat difficult 
to measure. It has been estimated at three hundred 
square inches. It is the largest accumulation of gray 
Matter in the body. The large caudate nerve cells 
are mingled with very small corpuscles, less than the 
thousandths of an inch in diameter. Allowing for 
intervals, we may suppose that a linear row of five 
hundred cells occupies an inch ; thus giving a quarter 

* Many doubts and queries have come to mind in regard to the 
spirit and object of Prof. Bain's work on Body and Mind. We have 
seen the statement that it was written at the request of his brother 
Materialists, and that it was written reluctantly. If we knew that to 
be a fact, our suspicion would be confirmed that he wrote without 
strict regard to known truth, and attempted to set the stakes, draw 
the line, and mark the bounds which Materialists must make good 
before they could consider their doctrines proved. As if he had said: 
"This you have to do: Admit the existence of Thought, Feeling, and 
Will; and in denying the existence of Life and Mind as real, you 
must, in the way I point out, bring these phenomena from the nerves." 



300 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

of a million to the square inch for three hundred 
inches. If one half the thickness of the layers is 
made up of fibers, the corpuscles or cells, taken by 
themselves, would be a mass one twentieth of an 
inch, say sixteen cells in depth. Multiplying the 
numbers together, we should reach a total of twelve 
hundred millions of cells in the gray covering of the 
hemispheres. As every cell is united with at least 
two fibers, often many more, we may multiply this 
number by four for the number of connecting fibers 
attached to the mass, which gives four thousand eight 
hundred millions of fibers. . . . With a total of fifty 
thousand acquisitions of the assumed Brain, which 
would certainly include the most retentive and the 
most richly endowed minds, there would be for each 
nervous grouping fifty thousand cells, and twenty -five 
thousand fibers." * 

This calculation embraces but little more than half 
the nervous gray brain centers, but it will sufficiently 
illustrate the nature of the argument. Now let it 
not be forgotten that the assumed facts are all imag- 
inary. Probably no man living or dead has, with 
the help of the most powerful lens, aided by chem- 
ical analysis, made so thorough an examination of the 
brain mass as Dr. Lionel Beale, and he knows noth- 
ing of the data on which Mr. Bain makes his arith- 
metical calculations of mental acquisitions. The fact 
that a numberless quantity of nerve fibers enter into 
"* Mind and Body," p. 106. 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 301 

the brain mass — that it is, in fact, largely composed of 
such fibers — is but one element in the calculation, 
and may have no connection, arithmetically, with his 
conclusion. Beale says : * 

" It is not difficult to find scientific statements 
which have been accepted even by J. S. Mill, Mr. Her- 
bert Spencer, and Mr. Bain, that have been reasoned 
upon as if, indeed, these statements had referred to 
incontrovertible facts of science. In truth, these 
great authorities have fallen into the curious error of 
accepting as facts of observation and experiment 
mere assertions, and expressions of opinion on the 
part of scientific men whose views they, strange 
to say, adopt without suspicion and without inquiry." 

§ 7. How Brain Substance is Transformed into Ideas. 

The following is the Materialistic conception of 
the formation of ideas. An external stimulus sets in 
motion a nerve fiber which enters a cell ; the cell 
is thus wrought into a certain shape, which is a 
representation • of a certain idea ; that is, the idea 
is conceived and incarnated by an unappropriated 
brain cell or molecule, the brain Matter assuming 
a certain shape corresponding to the nature of the 
idea. A true conception of the mental capacity of 
Bacon or Johnson would require that we go from the 
study of their published books to the study of their 
brain mass ; this we should measure with a tape line, 

* " Protoplasm," p. 127. 



302 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

weigh in the balances, then count the cell junctions, 
see how much of the brain had been appropriated, 
and how much was left unappropriated, and what 
remained as dead stock ; then we should note the 
shape of the corpuscles and of every differentiated 
brain atom, knowing that each separate form was the 
expression of a distinct idea. By this comparison of 
the brain of Bacon with his published books we 
could see how many thoughts and feelings passed 
through his Mind that were never written or pub- 
lished. As the printer, holding his composing stick 
in hand, is able, from the differently shaped letters 
to spell out words, and of the words to form sentences, 
so Mr. Bain estimates the number and kind of a man's 
mental "acquisitions" by an examination of the brain 
in all its parts as the only volume which contains the 
whole of his ideas, true or false. 

Mr. Bain says that such as can read it correctly will 
find" a separate embodiment of every separate im- 
pression and idea," with distinct items of brain-mass. 

As the birth of each new idea appropriates and 
fixes an atom of the brain substance, the amount left 
for future use diminishes as the ideas are multi- 
plied. Practically every thought lessens the brain 
mass. Mr. Bain says : 

"It is because we have something beyond the 
usual endowments of natural things in the possibility 
of storing up in three pounds weight of fatty and 
albuminous tissue, done into fine threads and cor- 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 303 

puscles, all these contemplated groupings, that make 
our natural and acquired aptitudes and our knowl- 
edge. If there were ' sermons in stones ' we should 
be less astonished when they were found iij brains." 
We are not astonished in either case, for the sermons 
are in the Matter of the stone mass as much as in the 
Matter of the albuminous brain mass. 

To present Mr. Bain's conception of man's mental 
structure the more distinctly, let us suppose that a 
stimulated nerve sends to a cell a thrill which flattens 
a brain corpuscle into the idea " one," another thrill 
sharpens a brain spec into the idea "two," a third 
corpuscle becomes oval in form and serves as a liga- 
ment to connect the sharpened and flattened corpus- 
cle, from which union a third angular corpuscle 
arises, which is an expression of the idea three. It 
is thus that albuminous brain Matter does mental 
work, inspires our poets, and weighs worlds in its 
balances ! A theory more purely fanciful was never 
invented. Professor Bain shall be answered by Geo. 
H. Lewes, one of his own school of philosophy : 

"Had a clear idea of Function, as dependent on 
Connection, been present to their minds, certain 
physiologists would hardly . . . have been led to the 
monstrous hypothesis of particular nerve cells being 
endowed with thought, instinct, and volition." * . . . 
" Although it is now common to speak of nerves as 
transmitting waves of molecular motion, and to re- 

* " Physical Basis of Mind," p. 195. 



304 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

gard nerves as the passive medium for the transfer- 
ence of force ... we must always remember that 
such phrases are metaphors," etc. Again, " In pro- 
posing the term neurility, I not only wished to get 
rid of the ambiguities which hovered round nerve 
force and nerve currents," etc.* 

On this subject, in the preceding chapter, the 
reader noticed the often-quoted disclaimer of Prof. 
Tyndall of our possessing the organ, or the rudiments 
of an organ, which would enable us to pass, by a 
process of reasoning, from brain to thought or from 
thought to brain. Apparently his pungent words 
were written in reply to Bain, and to rescue science 
from the realm of fancy and contempt. 

Without doubt the Mind sustains to the brain an 
intimate relation, but of the mode of the action of 
the one substance upon the other we know absolutely 
nothing. The terms " molecular groupings," " elec- 
tric discharges," " nerve currents," " wave motions," 
and all others of this class, have no meaning, and 
convey no known fact in physiology. 

A slight blow upon the head has caused instant 
death ; in other cases it has rescued from idiocy. In 
a few cases a considerable portion of the cerebral 
mass has been taken away by accident, and the Mind 
has remained unaffected. The loss of brain sub- 
stance was not followed by the loss of power or of 
intelligence. 

* "Physical Basis of Mind," pp. 198, 206. 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 305 

Mr. Bain might reply that the loss of six or eight 
ounces of the gray brain substance, taken in equal 
proportions from both hemispheres of the cerebrum, 
is not an appreciable amount. There are men now 
living, and in the full possession and use of all their 
mental faculties, through whose brain mass an ounce 
leaden bullet has once plowed its ragged furrow. 
Generally in cases of insanity the brain substance 
fails to reveal the cause, either before or after death. 
As an eighth or a fourth of the brain mass may be 
taken away and the Mind remain unaffected by the 
loss, and as this loss of brain substance affords not 
the slightest clew to the connection or relation which 
subsists between Thought and Matter, of what value 
are the speculations of Mr. Bain when he attempts 
to dispense with a Mind, and to mold supposed brain 
molecules into Thought, "Will, and Feeling ? 

§ 8. The Argument Confessedly Insufficient. 

It would seem that after his long and laborious 
effort, Professor Bain becomes heart -sick of his 
own performance. After comparing and contrasting 
Body and Mind, showing truthfully that the proper- 
ties of the one are not the properties of the other, 
he says : 

" There is surely nothing to complain of in the cir- 
cumstance that the elements of our experience are, in 
the last resort, not one but two, . . . the institution 

of two distinct entities is not in itself a crushing dis- 
20 



306 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

pensation." Is not this a complete surrender on tlie 
part of Materialism ? 

But why should the attempt be made by men of 
genius, even if it could be done with plausible suc- 
cess, to prove that man is but an organic clod of 
earth, and that death is the upshot of existence ? 
Mr. Bain tries to regard his conscious failure as not 
a " crushing dispensation." Why should honorable 
and intelligent men yearn for the unconscious repose 
of an eternal grave ? Does the idea of responsibility 
here incline them to blot out all apprehensions of 
accountability hereafter? The inspiration of this phi- 
losophy seems to be a yearning desire that the utter 
annihilation of man may prove to be true. Were it 
not that the subject is of such grave importance in 
itself, we should think that Mr. Bain, as an amuse- 
ment, or as an experiment, was simply trying to see 
how far and how fully Mind could be concealed be- 
hind the veil of the body. The confession that two 
entities may exist, Body and Mind, is made after the 
completion of a supreme effort to prove the contrary ; 
and this can be accounted for only on the ground that 
he was painfully conscious that he had failed. 

Bain, however^ makes another struggle, unwilling 
to quit the field. He says, speaking of Mind and 
Matter : " We must grant that the total difference of 
[their] nature has rendered the union very difficult 
to express in language." And no wonder, for it is 
far worse than to make the line describing a circle 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 307 

harmonize with the lines describing a triangle. Lan- 
guage cannot make a unity, when, as a fact, one is 
inconceivable. Either Mind or Body must be elim- 
inated as a condition of unity. This fact is clearly 
perceived by Mr. Bain, and another and a 'despairing 
effort is made to dispose of the Mind. " There is," 
he says, "an alliance with Matter — with the object, 
or extended world; but the thing allied — the Mind 
proper — has itself no extension, and cannot be joined 
in local union." This is really a confession that such 
union as will make a unit of Mind and Body is im- 
possible. Mind, not having the physical quality of 
extension or solidity, can have no contactual connec- 
tion with Matter. Finally, we have the following, 
which is really the philosopher's leap in the dark : 

" The only tangible supposition is, that mental and 
physical proceed together as undivided twins. When, 
therefore, we speak of a mental cause, a mental 
agency, we have always a two-sided cause ; the effect 
produced is not the effect of Mind alone, but of Mind 
in company with Body — it is, after all, Body acting 
upon Body." 

Hold ! Mind is missing ! 

When did Mind part " company " with Body, leav- 
ing " Body to act upon Body ? " 

Has Mind become Body and taken on the quality 
of extension ? 

Are the "two sides" of the same substance acting 
upon each other ? Has the " mental " become phys- 



308 Matter, Life, and Mind 



ical, or the physical mental % Have the " twins " 
become a unit? If so, which has lost its identity? 
or are the twins divided or consolidated, and but one 
left us ? 

After a long argument to prove that Thought, Rea- 
son, Will, and Feeling were but "nervous sensations," 
or " nerve currents," or " nerve thrills or shocks," or 
"surplus nervous energy discharging itself" — all sup- 
posed momentary effects of the physiacl organism, if 
any thing — he, at last, talks of Mind and the mental 
as something distinct from Body. He really takes us 
back to the starting-point. The upshot of his expo- 
sition leaves us in hopeless confusion. Pity he could 
not have tarried a few moments and explained a few 
things. Are we to infer that Mind has become Body, 
and that in man there is no Mind, but that he has 
become two bodies, one acting upon the other ? 

He retires as if the " dispensations of two sub- 
stances " had " crushed " him. Fact and truth grant 
to Materialists but few indulgences, and they are 
compelled to practice many self-denials. 

Spontaneous generation, an essential factor in every 
materialistic hypothesis, has utterly failed them, and 
they can find neither fact nor theory to supply its 
place. 

It would help their cause amazingly if they could 
detect in Matter the slightest tendency to work itself 
into an organic body. But the eye of a Materialist 
never feasted upon such a sight. 



Eliminating Mind from Body. 309 

If it were not for the inflexibility of language they 
could devise and frame a definition of Life in mate- 
rialistic terms, but language is the unyielding enemy 
of their doctrine. 

There are yawning " gaps " they vainly wish were 
closed. 

There are " lost links " that cannot be found. 

Mr. Bain's work lays bare all these perplexities, 
and to obviate them, he indulges in a series of mis- 
statements, and gives us a mass of absurdities such 
as we never before met in any volume called philos- 
ophy. Had the author's object been to make Mate- 
rialism appear ridiculous, he could not have done 
much better. He started with Mind and Body, and 
ended with Body acting upon Body. 



310 Matter, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTEE X. 

THE HYPOTHESIS OF THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE AND 
MIND. 

" The facts of science prove, with considerable certainty, that the 
organic beings which people this earth owe their origin and propa- 
gation solely to the conjoined action of natural forces and materials, 
and that the gradual change and development of the surface of the 
earth is the sole, or, at least, the chief, cause of the gradual increase 
of the living world." — Buchner. 

"Every thing in Mind — every mental operation or result is referred 
to organization, and no force other than nervous force is recognized. 
Mental phenomena result from the functional activity of nerve cells, 
called forth by impressions from without and from within, and modi- 
fied and directed by the residue of impressions, concepts, and ideas 
heretofore existent. Mind is no individual entity, but an organic 
product of ever- variable quantity and quality . . . evolved in such a 
way that the building up of the Mind is an act of the entire Body, 
with which, indeed, Mind is conterminous." — Dk. Maudsley. 

§ 1. Huxley' 's error in regard to the Matter of Proto- 
plasm. 

THE Matter of Protoplasm, Mr. Huxley contends, 
is composed of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and 
hydrogen, and the compound thus formed is the stuff 
which gives forth vital and intellectual phenomena.* 

* In 1868, Prof. T. H. Huxley astonished the English-speaking 
public by the new and strange doctrines he set forth in a lecture, 
delivered in Edinburgh, on the ''Physical Basis of Life." For the 
first time in the English language a description was given of the 
matter, which, it was alleged, lives, thinks, and feels. It was held 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 311 

As all the bricks that come from the same mortar-bed 
are made of the same kind of clay, so all protoplasm 
is the same identical Life -stuff. His words are: 
" Protoplasm is the clay of the potter, which, bake it 
and paint as he will, remains clay, separated by arti- 
fice, and not by Nature, from the commonest brick 

that the new fact brought to light would buttress the tottering points 
of Materialism, and give its advocates a complete triumph. Not in 
one hundred years has a single lecture in any country elicited more 
feeling and called out more extended discussions than this one. To 
justify its boldness, and make good its positions, kept the author and 
his friends busy for some years ; but the steady advance of science 
has, however, rendered obsolete some of its positions, and others 
have been essentially modified by superior light. 

The English-speaking public would have been less surprised at Mr. 
Huxley's discovery had it been familiar with the fruits of German 
study during the preceding decade. John Hunter's work on the 
Nature of the Blood, in which he taught that new growths depended 
on exudations of the plasma of the blood, started many German 
thinkers upon new lines of thought. Schleiden and Schwann discov- 
ered the organic cell — a microscopical formation — which has been 
the cause and occasion of a vast amount of research and discussion. 
Miiller, Valentine, Brown, and Virchow demonstrated the apparent 
analogy between the vegetable and animal cells, and the fact that a 
nucleus could be detected in both. When it was found that these 
cells propagated themselves by self-division, their vital character was 
fully established. This fact was demonstrated by Leydig and con- 
firmed by Max Schultze, in 1859. In the labor of microscopic dis- 
coveries in regard to the behavior of the cell and the changes it 
undergoes, the name of Briicke, Bergman, Kiine, Haeckel, Lionel 
Beale, and many others should be mentioned. 

It was as early as 1864 demonstrated that the matter contained in 
the cell was what lived, and the name Protoplasm — first plasma, or 
form — was given to it. This substance was thought to be the lowest, 
or the first, form of Life. German savants gave the idea to the world 
as a demonstrated fact of science. And Mr. Huxley was among the 



312 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

or sun-dried clod." If the statement that all proto- 
plasm is composed of the same substances in the same 
proportions were a demonstrable fact, agreed to by 
our authorities, an unanswerable objection could be 
made on that basis, in a few words, to the conclusions 
of Mr. Huxley, as, according to the theory, if Proto- 
plasm is Life and Mind stuff, and is always the same 
every-where, how is it, how can it be, that in one 
case the same kind of Matter develops into a spire 
of grass, in another into an eagle, in another into a 
lion, and in another into a man ? From the same 
mortar-bed can you make myriads of bricks, not only 
of different shapes but of essentially different quali- 
ties ? Clear thinking cannot conceive it possible that 
the one substance should be metamorphosed into the 
different kinds. 

Mr. Huxley contends that " all diversities of vital 
existence " have a physical basis, and that " a three- 
fold unity — namely, a unity of power or faculty, a 

first to seize upon it, and so use it as to cause a sensation. The Ger- 
mans furnished and charged the gun, Huxley applied the match, and a 
great noise was the result. Although Huxley made Protoplasm the 
basis of Mind as well as Life, yet in his lecture he confined his spec- 
ulations mostly to vitality, the realm of intellect and thought being 
left open for the first adventurer that might chance to come along. 

George H. Lewes, in 1817, published a volume of nearly six hun- 
dred pages, entitled the " Physical Basis of Mind." As Huxley had 
disposed of Life, so he undertook a like service for Mind. Life and 
Mind swept from the universe of reals, nothing is left but Matter. 
These men must be classed among the ablest and most pronounced 
Materialists of the age. Our business now is to bring their theories 
into the light of the facts of Nature and test them. 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 313 

a unity of form, and a unity of substantial composi- 
tion — does pervade the whole living world." Again, 
"Hence it appears to be a matter of no great mo- 
ment what animal or what plant I lay under contri- 
bution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks volumes 
for the general identity of that substance in all living 
beings." Now the first question is this : Is Huxley 
correct in his dogmatic assertions in regard to the 
matter — oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen — 
which composes his hypothetical basis of Life? If 
mistaken on that fundamental point his argument 
is essentially defective, and its conclusions without 
force. It would be easy to show the fallacy of Mr. 
Huxley's reasoning on his own assumed principles, 
for he teaches that "protoplasm is the same, living or 
dead." In all cases it is Matter, subject to material 
force and chemical reaction, and nothing more. In 
the face of such an assertion he is required to explain 
why it is that protoplasm — the same substance — takes 
on such a multiplicity of form. Strieker, who has 
made this subject a special study, teaches that pro- 
toplasm varies indefinitely in consistency, in shape, 
structure, and function. " "We have," he says, 
"club-shaped protoplasm, globe-shaped protoplasm, 
cup-shaped protoplasm, bottle-shaped protoplasm, 
spindle-shaped protoplasm — branched, threaded, cil- 
iated protoplasm — circle-headed protoplasm — flat, con- 
ical, cylindrical, longitudinal, prismatic, polyhedral, 
palisade - like protoplasm." "Why the same com- 



314 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

pound substance, subject to the same physical forces 
and laws, should assume such a variety of forms is 
left for Mr. Huxley to yet explain. 

Huxley says again : " If the phenomena exhibited 
by water are its properties, so are those presented by 
protoplasm, living or dead, its properties." * Proto- 
plasm may die, hence there may be dead protoplasm. 
The Matter of protoplasm does not change in nat- 
ure, force, or law, by means of death. But the phe- 
nomena demonstrate that there is in living proto- 
plasm the something which distinguishes it from 
a mere transparent jelly, such as can be artificially 
made. These distinguishing phenomena are vital, 
and as their antecedent cause is not in the Matter it 
must be in the Life. In so far as the phenomena of 
living protoplasm differ from the phenomena of dead 
protoplasm, there must be a differentiating cause in 
the one that is not in the other. "What is it ? In 
observing that the one mass is dead, and that the 
other is alive, we perceive and know that Vitality is 
the cause of the vast difference between them. Life 
can be restored to dead protoplasm by human agency 
no more than to a dead tree, brute, or man. 

We have evidence that Mr. Huxley now places but 
little value upon either the facts or philosophy set 
forth in his celebrated lecture on the "Matter of 
Life," or the " Physical Basis of Life." The English 
Dredging Expedition, in 1874, brought up from the 

* "Lay Sermons." 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 315 

ocean's bed, where the water was very deep, an oozy 
or slimy substance which was called Bathybius, mean- 
ing "Life from the depths," and Mr. Huxley seized 
upon it, as Lorenz Oken had done in 1809, sixty-five 
years before, and proclaimed to the world that at 
last the Matter which generates Life and Mind had 
been found ! In less than a year after this he united 
with the rest of mankind and laughed at his own 
folly, and the celebrated " Bathybius of Huxley " has 
disappeared from science. But the scientist who 
knows more about protoplasm than any other man, 
except Lionel Beale, is Ernst Haeckel, Professor of 
Zoology in the University of Jena. He is a Ma- 
terialist, and a personal friend of Huxley. The two 
scientists are wide apart in their views of the com- 
position and nature of protoplasm. Haeckel says : 
" The quantitive composition of protoplasm, though 
in some cases greatly varying, resembles, as a whole, 
that of other albuminoids, and hence consists of from 
fifty to fifty-five per cent, of carbon, probably six to 
eight of hydrogen, fifteen to seventeen of nitrogen, 
twenty to twenty-two of oxygen, and one or two of 
sulphur." But the protoplastic cell or unit is too 
small to admit of exact analysis. Haeckel says : 
" The chemistry of to-day, with its imperfect methods 
of investigation, is totally powerless before these in- 
tricate organic compounds, and it is possible only to 
surmise from the infinitely varied physiological quali- 
ties of the numberless kinds of plastids, the infinite 



316 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

variety of plastidules out of which they are com- 
posed." Hence we do no injustice to Mr. Huxley 
or the truth when we affirm that he knows neither 
the composition nor the form nor the " faculty " of 
protoplasm, and all that Haeckel knows is that 
we may " surmise from the infinitely varied phys- 
iological qualities of the numberless kinds of plastids 
the infinite variety of plastidules out of which they 
are composed." 

Well, then, we are at our starting-point again. 
Mr. Huxley's Matter of Life turns out to 'be a 
mere myth ; as to what it is in its ultimate analysis, all 
is conjecture. Not a shade of proof is presented that 
Matter has been found that can generate Life or 
Mind. Had Mr. Huxley undertaken to show that 
some fifteen kinds of Matter gathered themselves 
together before our eyes from the atmosphere, and 
from the ground, then worked themselves into a hu- 
man body, and that then this body made itself live, 
and finally finished its work by the creation of a 
Mind, or did the thinking without a Mind, he would 
have achieved quite as brilliant a success as he has 
with protoplasm or Bathybius as the basis and cause 
of Life and Mind. 

§ 2. ZMr. Lewes comes to the support of Mr. Huxley. 

Mr. George H. Lewes, being later in this field of 
research, profited by the mistakes and false reasoning 
of Mr. Huxley, and his argument will receive more 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 317 

special attention. Both are able writers, but Lewes 
is the more careful, more subtile, and less reckless of 
extravagant deductions. It is, nevertheless, weary- 
ing to the flesh to read the verbose chapters of the 
" Physical Basis of Mind." Its tortuous style is ex- 
ceeded in offensiveness only by the pedantry of its 
terminology. Elegance and clearness are strikingly 
absent. In tone the book is self-sufficient and athe- 
istic. Only an indirect reference is made to the 
possibility of the existence of a Supreme Being, and 
the philosophy of Darwin and Spencer are held to 
explain away the necessity of recognizing either in- 
telligence or creative power in the order or organ- 
isms of the universe ; and yet George H. Lewes, in 
his day was a man of some importance ; he was the 
quasi husband of Miss Evans, known as George 
Eliot, the great novel writer. He had much scientific 
knowledge, and was respected by his fellow-scientists. 
But he is a turgid writer ; he has no warmth like 
Spencer, no poetry like Tyndall, nor the trenchant 
energy of Huxley. He is ever cool and calm for the 
reason that he is incapable of enthusiasm. To the 
consequences of his doctrine, whether to himself, to 
others, or to the cause of truth, he seems never to 
have. given a serious thought. 

He commences his labors by making a clear and 
honest statement of the problem to be solved, name- 
ly, the Mind. He assumes that Life and Mind are 
"phenomena" — mere effects, and that "every prob- 



318 Mattes, Life, and Mind. 

lem of Mind is necessarily a problem of Life, referring 
to one special group of activities." 

Here, then, on the start, as we examine the plan of 
Mr. Lewes's argument, we join issue with him, and 
deny that the problems of Mind are the problems of 
Life. All that can be known of vitality, as mani- 
fested for ages in the vast and varied vegetable king- 
dom, can be examined without touching the problem 
of Mind. Botany and Psychology, as sciences, have 
nothing in common. Mr. Lewes's statement is im- 
portant, not because it expresses a truth, but because 
it is a necessary link in his argument. Distinguish- 
ing, as we should do, human from animal existence, 
the vitality of the animal realm, including earth, air, 
and seas, may be fully studied, and, as far as possible, 
solved, without a thought being given to the problem 
of the human Mind. Further, in chapter second of 
this work, we have demonstrated that vital force and 
thought have nothing in common, that each must 
have a basis of its own, and that the Life of the body 
is in no sense the Intellect. Mind is a substance 
which exists and acts in the realm of ideas, by thought, 
feeling, and will ; the associations of Life are with 
the body which it has organized ; neither can do the 
work of the other ; Mind cannot touch Matter ; Life 
cannot think. The vitality of the human body can 
no more reason than the vitality of a tree. When- 
ever Mr. Lewes will make the fact clear to observa- 
tion, that where there is life, whether in plant or 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 310 

animal, there is thought and will and feeling ; we 
will accept his statement, that the problem of Life 
is the problem of Mind, but, till then, we shall re- 
fuse to our author all progress, and to his argument 
all validity. 

His reasoning, to illustrate and prove the position 
taken, is equally fallacious. He assumes " that there 
is one matter, every- where the same, under great 
diversities in the complication of its elements." 
There is not a known fact or principle in science that 
confirms the above statement, and we deny its truth- 
fulness in whole and in part. 

If the science of Chemistry has demonstrated any 
truth in nature, and, as a science, is of any value 
whatever, it has proved, by millions of analytical 
tests, that different kinds of Matter exist, and that 
each kind is endowed with properties peculiar to 
itself. All that we know to be true of Nature our 
author rejects, and plants his philosophy on the fic- 
tions and dogmatisms of a vagrant imagination. 
What he calls " the identification of the elements," 
that is, making them one, has, for years, begged, but 
begged in vain, for a fact for its support. Any 
system of philosophy based upon such groundless 
assumptions is not to be accepted as a truthful repre- 
sentation of Nature ; it is like a building without a 
resting-place, afloat in the air. 

He assures us that in the " one Matter" there is to 
be noted a distinction of " modes," and that these 



320 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

" modes range themselves under three supreme 
heads — Force, Life, and Mind." By distinction of 
" modes," does he mean modes of being, or modes of 
manifestation % If lie means being, then it follows 
that the " one Matter " — the solitary essence — can 
metamorphose itself into different essences ; and this 
theory implies both the destruction and creation of 
Matter. If he means that the " one Matter " can at 
one moment assume the " mode " of " Force " — what 
force he does not say — at the next the "mode" of 
" Life," and at the next the " mode " of " Mind," his 
" Matter " is in power nothing less than Deity. 

Thus, in less than two pages of the most extrava- 
gant assumptions, our author rushes to the conclusion 
of his argument, and lays before us the physical basis 
of Mind. The subject, in all its vastness and with 
all its consequences, may be thus summed up : " One 
Matter" — cause, resulting in "Force, Life, and Mind." 

§ 3. Mr. Lewes' s Argument Dissected. 

Let us, as best we can, preserve our patience while 
we glance at Mr. Lewes's exposition of these basal 
factors in his argument. After a few words, which 
are well enough, in regard to Matter in the " Mode 
of Force," he proceeds to describe vitality, and uses, 
without giving him credit, almost the exact words 
of De Blainville's definition of Life, discarded by 
Spencer and others, as follows : " Composition and 
decomposition, which are simultaneous, and by this 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 321 

simultaneity preserve the integrity of the structure." 
Mr. Spencer rejected this definition, because it applies 
sonly to vegetable life. 

Passing to Matter as, in " Mode," the Mind, Mr. 
Lewes says : " While exhibiting all the characters of 
the two preceding classes " (Force and Vitality), "it is 
specialized by the addition of a totally new property 
called Sensibility, which, subjectively, is Feeling." 
When a philosopher will assert, as a link in the chain 
of an important argument, that Mind exhibits all 
the properties and forces of Matter, he invites such 
an answer as could be returned only by a scoff. Our 
author has learned from Prof. Bain the advantages 
to be derived from embracing all intellectual phe- 
nomena in " Sensibility," and then calling that sensi- 
bility " Feeling ; " for but one step more will be 
required to reach nervous, or physical, sensations; and 
this philosophy is vagrant — it is on the wing, it is in 
the air, it is anywhere, till it finds rest in nervous 
sensation. Here follow important statements, as fac- 
tors placed at the base of his argument, that contain 
not a shade of known truth : " Organized substance 
has become animal substance." Does he mean that 
vegetable organisms, as such, have become animal 
organisms? If not, his statement is of no conse- 
quence. What change did organized vegetable sub- 
stance undergo in " becoming " " animal ? " What 
agent caused the inorganic Matter to become organ- 
ized — as the ground becoming a tree or a human 
21 



322 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

body? It is useless to make these statements, em- 
bracing only the idea of Matter, unless we can see 
some reason in Matter for the change. Again: "Veg- 
etality has become developed into animality." Does 
our author mean what he says? Has the rose become 
developed into a bird, the tree into a horse, or the 
sensitive plant into a man ? Ah, I see ! the one Mat- 
ter may now take on the " mode " of " Force," then 
Vitality, then Mind ! but the assumption that in such 
a process we see only the play of the " one Matter," 
is a begging of the question. After delivering him- 
self of the above learned and brilliant nonsense, Mr. 
Lewes, with calm complacency, reaches the following 
generalization : " Thus all the various modes of ex- 
istence may, at least in their objective aspects, be 
ranged under the two divisions of inorganic and or- 
ganic — Non-living and Living; and these are, respect- 
ively, the objects of the cosmological and the bio- 
logical sciences." And so Mind is disposed of, and 
Life is recognized as a mere process of the " compo- 
sition and decomposition " of an organism ! 

§ 4. A new Element in the Materialistic argument. 

We have now before us the bases, the primal fac- 
tors, of the argument, and on page sixth the author 
favors us with the key to all that is yet to come in 
direct support of materialistic philosophy. His care- 
fully chosen words are as follows : " Biology adds 
classification, and for the first time brings into promi- 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 323 

nence the important notion of Conditions" — what are 
they ? — "of existence and the variation of phenomena 
under varying conditions." As I wish to fix in the 
reader's mind the use that is to be made of this word 
"condition," and give him a taste of Mr. Lewes's style 
as a writer, I will make a quotation from pages 14, 15. 
" A similar ambiguity to that of the phrase, " ordi- 
nary matter," lies in the equally common phrase, 
" vital force," which is used to designate a special 
group of agencies ; and then is made to designate an 
agent which has no kinship with the general group, 
that is to say, instead of being employed in its real 
signification — that which alone represents our knowl- 
edge — as the abstract statical expression of complex 
conditions necessary to the manifestation of vital phe- 
nomena, or as the abstract dynamical expression of the 
phenomena themselves, it is employed as an expression 
of their unknown Cause, which, because unknown, is 
disassociated from the known conditions, and erected 
into a mysterious Principle, having no kinship with 
Matter." 

He charges that Yitalists use the phrase, "vital 
force " to designate a " group of agencies," but in 
fact intelligent Yitalists hold that the agent which 
causes " vital force" is a Yital substance. The expres- 
sion " group of vital agencies " is seldom used. A 
dozen kernels of corn planted in the ground might be 
called a group of vital agents, and the "cause" of 
vital phenomena as seen in the growing stalks. 



324 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

The word " conditions," as used throughout this 
book, means any thing and every thing, more or less, 
that is wanted of it. It bridges any gulf, fills any 
gap, or supplies any link in logic the author may de- 
sire. It is like an exhaustless deposit in bank, which 
may be drawn on at pleasure without regard to the 
amount of the draft. That word is ever ready for 
any emergency, and it solves all mysteries. Take 
from Mr. Lewes's philosophy the word " conditions," 
and substitute for it some clearly defined idea, and it 
would go limping straight to its grave. 

On page 20 he ridicules the idea of the exist- 
ence of " a vital principle." " It is idle, it is worse, 
it is misleading," he says, " to personify the organic 
conditions known and inferred in a vital principle : 
idle, because*we might with equal propriety personify 
the conditions of crystallization into a crystal prin- 
ciple ; misleading, because the artifice is quickly 
dropped out of sight, and the abstract term then be- 
comes accepted as an entity, supposed to create or 
rule the phenomena it was intended to express." 

Here, again, the word " conditions " comes in to 
help along the argument. As either link or swivel 
in the chain it is ever available. We can readily 
excuse our author for making no attempt to specify 
and define what was embraced in this word condi- 
tions, for he does not pretend to know. There is no 
known force or power in Matter to establish the con- 
ditions, and when established, the mortal does not 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 325 

live who can tell what they are. But the word, used 
as the symbol of the utterly unknown, wholly vitiates 
the argument. The astonishing thing is, that it 
should be used at all ; and the still further astonishing 
matter is, that we should be reproached for believing 
that we perceive in Bacon and Shakespeare Minds 
which were endowed with faculties, properties, and 
forces of their own. Supposing we abandon the idea 
of the existence of Mind as a spirit-substance, and 
adopt, in its stead, the cabalistic word " conditions" — 
some obsolete Choctaw or Tartar word would do as 
well — how much on the score of positive knowledge 
w r ould we gain % Do we not lose all and gain noth- 
ing? In regard to quartz, the forces reside in the 
elements themselves which cause that aggregation of 
Matter, and hence we have no reason or use for a 
separate " crystalline principle." Matter itself is 
endowed with forces adequate to produce that and 
thousands of other results ; but Matter, as we have 
seen, never manifests the least tendency to work itself 
into organic bodies, or to think and feel. 

The fact that the organism exists is a mystery 
Materialism cannot explain ; furthermore the relation 
of the parts, and the why and the wherefore of the in- 
fluence of one organ upon another are equally insol- 
uble mysteries. Mr. Lewes was never wise enough to 
tell us why he was able to lift a finger. But this vast 
world of mystery is covered by the word "condi- 
tions," and it is used as freely as if it conveyed to the 



326 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Mind a specific meaning. How sublime and brilliant 
the sentence : " Matter, in a certain mode, or in its 
' organic conditions,' wrote the Iliad, and constructed 
the geometry of Euclid." 

§ 5. Mr. Leweis Objection that no one has ever seen a 
ISpirit. 

.On page 26 Mr. Lewes rejects the hypothesis of 
Life because no " one has ever observed a Spirit, an 
Archeus, or a Vital principle." Should one claim 
that he had ever seen a Spirit or a Life, would not 
our author justly reply that only Matter could be seen 
by a sense-organ? Who has ever seen the unit or 
an entity of Matter ? The idea itself of Life places it 
beyond the range of all our senses ; and knowing this 
fact, as every Materialist does, the above argument 
is simply puerile. Mental and vital phenomena are 
special results, and they must have like special anti- 
thetic causes. Are causes of changes and energy to 
be denied because not visible to the eye? May not 
extraordinary phenomena suggest with reason a pe- 
culiar cause ? May not properties associated with Mat- 
ter, which are wholly foreign to all we know of Matter, 
inhere in a non-material substance ? On page 31 Mr. 
Lewes says : " All that the observed facts warrant is, 
the assertion that organic phenomena are special, and 
must, therefore, depend on special combinations of 
Matter and force." As tangible, ponderable, ordi- 
nary Matter is what we are dealing with, and as " or- 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 327 

ganic phenomena are special," then something very 
specific and knowable must have caused such organ- 
ism to exist. If that something is not Life it is 
Matter, and we demand to know the what and the 
wherefore of its power. The expression, " special 
combinations of Matter," is employed to avoid too 
much repetition for the cabalistic " conditions," and 
means nothing or any thing. Materialism leaves the 
origin and cause of vital phenomena in utter, absolute 
darkness, and this fact is fully confessed by Yirchow, 
Huxley, and Tyndall. 

It will not be denied that vitality is the unvarying 
mark of distinction between the inorganic and or- 
ganic worlds, and is not the inference irresistible that 
the ever-present Life is the cause of the organisms ? 
In its absence we have nothing as cause of the organ- 
ism, and must suppose that Matter is capable of self- 
organization, and of establishing some indescribable 
and unknowable conditions that will produce special 
phenomena. The facts of observation are, that Mat- 
ter was never known to manifest the least disposition 
or tendency to work itself into an organic body, any 
more than the iron ore of a mountain to work itself 
into an engine. 

Mr. Lewes thinks he is pressing the cause of Vital- 
ism hard when he says, "ISTot only is it inexact to 
speak of vitality as a force, it is almost equally in- 
exact to speak of it as a property." Yes, it is quite 
as "inexact." That which, in itself, is substance — 



328 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

a self-centered cause — cannot be a property of some- 
thing else ; rather, it has forces and properties of its 
own. Yet Mr. Lewes often speaks of " the forces " 
and " properties " of Life and Mind, showing that 
his ideas were floating and not very clear nor very 
mature on the subject. 

Our author has the frankness to make the follow- 
ing concession, and the facts involved are of much 
weight in this discussion : 

" The ordinary laws of inorganic Matter are incapa- 
ble of explaining the phenomena of organized Mat- 
ter, and chemical forces are controlled by vital force." 
The following is the explanation : " The true mean- 
ing of the resistance of vitality to ordinary chemical 
affinity is, that the conditions involved in the phe- 
nomena of vitality are not the conditions involved in 
the phenomena of chemistry." What has caused the 
difference ? As the elements of Matter are unchange- 
able, they carry into the organism the properties and 
forces they possessed out of it; their chemical rela- 
tions never cease to act ; but in the organism another 
and a contrary vital force is met by the incoming 
substance to which its material forces succumb. The 
observed facts prove that in the organism there is a 
collision, as between two substances, having contrary 
tendencies, and that the chemical yields to the vital. 
But it matters not what difficulties Materialism gets 
into, the word " conditions " is present to help it out. 
Yet we must not weary of telling Mr. Lewes that, 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 329 

till he explains and makes clear what is embraced in 
the word conditions, he has not advanced his argument 
one step, nor thrown one ray of light on the subject. 

§ 6. Tlie Universe Primarily Vital. 

Life, as a department of the universe, and as the 
basal cause of the organic world, must be examined 
in the light of its own peculiar phenomena. If in the 
absence of material phenomena there is something 
that remains, as in thinking ; or, if a work is done 
which neither mechanical, nor chemical, nor material 
forces can do, that non-material agent must be a vital 
agent or a mental agent. That a vast amount of work 
of this kind is done, none can deny. Great and nu- 
merous as are the mechanical and chemical forces of 
Matter, they are few in number and monotonous in 
detail, compared to the forces of Life and Mind. 
This is not primarily and fundamentally a universe 
of Matter and death, but of Mind, Life, and organ- 
isms. In our observations and reflections we perceive 
the mental and the vital parts of nature and their 
operations, as clearly and as fully as the material 
parts. There are in the vital world names that out- 
shine the stars. 

Mr. Lewes follows Prof. Huxley in asserting that 
it would be as proper to speak of " horology, con- 
tractility, gravity, and attraction" as abstract Reals 
as Vitality; and it becomes necessary that a sharp dis- 
tinction be drawn between a property which neces- 



330 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

sarily arises out of the nature of Matter and between 
the forces which result from the union of different 
kinds of Matter on the one hand and Life on the 
other, as a self-centered substance. 

In a certain case attraction has brought together a 
substance composed of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, 
nitrogen, and some other elements. Let us suppose 
this substance is the dead matter of the jelly fish. It 
cannot be denied that this mass is a chemical com- 
pound ; nor can it be denied that it was once an or- 
ganic body. As a chemical substance it lacks what it 
possessed as an organic body ; that is, Life. There is 
yet present attraction, cohesion, affinity, and all the 
properties of the original material elements; but a 
something which was once present and exercised a 
supreme potency over the Matter of the organism, 
and over all its properties, is now wanting, and that 
is Yitality. Now just in so far as a vitally organized 
structure possesses a something in excess of a phys- 
ical substance, there is no analogy between them. 
We attribute to water, formed of oxygen and hydro- 
gen, its qualities, because of its chemical and physical 
structure ; but bioplasm and other organized sub- 
stances possess a Something which is neither chemical, 
mechanical, nor physical ; and to properly compare 
the one substance with the other, is to note sharply 
the radical differences between them. Mr. Huxley 
says : " If the phenomena exhibited by water are its 
properties, so are those presented by protoplasm, liv- 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 331 

ing or dead, its properties." Ah, Mr. Huxley, hold ! 
Protoplasm, living or dead, one and the same thing ? 
This is the rock on which your philosophy splits. Is 
there nothing in the moving, growing, multiplying 
protoplasm which is not in the still, dead, dissolving 
mass? We may adopt Mr. Huxley's law of corre- 
spondence between substance and phenomena, and say, 
" If the phenomena exhibited by dead protoplasm 
are its properties, so are the phenomena presented by 
living protoplasm its properties ; " and the difference 
between them, in fact and principle, is the difference 
between Life and Death — between a Demosthenes 
moving a nation by his reason and eloquence, and a 
corpse dressed for its burial. We grant that the 
material qualities of the dead protoplasm — mechan- 
ical, chemical, electrical — are the same as in the liv- 
ing; but the phenomena demonstrates that there is 
a something in the one that is not in the other, and 
that we call Life. 

As Mr. Lewes comes in sight of the wreck of Prof. 
Huxley's philosophy, he shifts sail by the use of the 
word conditions, and steers around this rocky reef, 
and on the farther side of the danger keeps on in the 
same direction, intending to make the same port. 
An organism, he teaches, is more than a mechanism, 
more than the aggregation of physical properties, 
more than all chemical forces combined together ; 
over and above all these, and as an addition to them, 
he adds the " conditions," and, as the synthesis of the 



332 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

organism, he calls them Yitality ! The difference be- 
tween Huxley and Lewes may be thus expressed : 
Huxley teaches that Matter generates, as phenomena, 
Life and Mind ; Lewes, that Matter — a single essence 
— and a something unknown and indescribable, which 
subsists between its parts and in its environments, 
and which may be called Conditions, are, or generate, 
Life and Mind as phenomena. Life is therefore only 
a name given to phenomena of unknown origin in 
self -organized Matter. 

In his large volume, entitled " The Physical Basis 
of Mind," it will be noticed that Mind long since 
disappeared. Mind, on the start, dropped down into 
mere Sensibility, Sensibility into Feeling, and then 
all problems of Mind became problems of Yitality, 
and Vitality disappeared behind the unknown con- 
ditions of the organism. 

§ 7. Relation of Body and Mind. 

In the chapter on the relation of Body and Mind 
Mr. Lewes puts forth a special, a supreme, and a last 
attempt to make them one, by engulfing the latter in 
the former. "Mind and Body," he says, "however 
contrasted, are both simply embodiments of experi- 
ence ; that is to say, are Modes of Feeling. All ex- 
istence — as known to us — is the Felt." By ignoring 
thought, reason, judgment, and man's entire moral 
nature, and seizing upon Emotion as the Mind proper, 
he is able to associate it with a physical sensation, and 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 333 

find a kind of unity in feeling. Can " Mr. Lewes sup- 
pose that such treatment of this subject will lodge 
the conviction in any fair mind that his conclusions 
are valid ? 

We refuse to go further without stopping to inquire, 
What has become of Intellect ? He grants that, by an 
appeal to consciousness, the decision is inevitable that 
"a radical distinction" of some kind exists between 
Mind and Body ; but insists that this " radical distinc- 
tion" implies no more than a "contrast of aspects." 
The "aspects" are explained as meaning the same 
thing " apprehended through different modes " — 
they are both "modes of consciousness." He pro- 
ceeds : " Sensation, avowedly, lies at the basis of 
mental manifestations." The truth of this statement 
we deny. The actions of Mind are often manifested 
to its own consciousness, when Sensation has nothing 
to do with it. Sensation is not in any way the base 
of mental operations — they are its helps at times. A 
pure and complete sensation implies the action of 
both a sense-organ and the Mind, and mental action 
is common to all sensations, and gives to them unity 
in Mind. The Mind cognizes the purport of the 
physical impression made upon the sense-nerve, and 
the knowledge thus derived is a sensation. When 
Mr. Lewes substitutes for the cognizing Mind " the 
reaction of the whole organism," he deals in the 
purest fiction. It is by this easy and cheap shift that 
he gets rid of Mind proper, and retains only a react- 



334 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

ing physical organism. A sensation, reacted upon by 
"the whole organism," is both Body and Mind! Such 
is our author's doctrine, and we think we have pre- 
sented his meaning clearer than he made it himself. 

The healthy human Body is confessedly an organic 
unit, each part of which, acting in harmony with all 
other parts, contributes to the general result. Between 
the eye, the ear, and other sense-organs, and between 
the heart, the lungs, muscles, nerves, blood, and bones 
there is no conflict, no collision — all is harmony. The 
organs are all correlated to the office they were to fill 
and to each other. The body is an organic unit, and 
reaction in a unit, one part smiting another, is an 
impossibility. Where there is reaction there must be 
Duality ; one substance or unit acting upon another. 
A unit acts as a whole, and cannot react upon itself. 
Mr. Lewes supposes that when one of the sense- 
organs is affected from without, and a sensation has 
commenced, that " the whole organism " reacts upon 
it — the organ — and completes the sensation. That is 
to suppose that a unit may have diverse and contrary 
parts ; that double and conflicting purposes may pre- 
vail, and that it may be the theater of an internecine 
war. Mr. Lewes reaches his conclusion only by the 
destruction of the Body as an organic unit ; and if 
man possesses a Dual nature, seen under two aspects, 
the Mind is dismissed and the Body divided. In the 
supposed action and reaction, which goes on within 
the organic unit, we have an explanation of what the 



Physical Basis of Life and Mind. 335 

author means by the two aspects of the same thing. 
For the sake of unity, variety, and identity, he accepts 
this the grossest of absurdities. In getting rid of 
Mind he is compelled to divide the Body, so as to give 
to it two "aspects " having nothing in common, being 
" radically different," the parts acting and reacting 
upon each other. 

Referring to the difficulties his argument has had 
to encounter, he says : " Although for many years I 
have accepted the hypothesis of Monism, I have al- 
ways recognized its want of an adequate reply to such 
objections. Unless I greatly deceive myself, I have 
now found a solution of the main difficulty, and found 
it in psychological conditions which are perfectly in- 
telligible." If the conditions are "perfectly intelli- 
gible," why, in the name of reason, we inquire, have 
they not, at some stage in this long discussion, been 
explained to us % What is there in the conditions that 
initiates the organism? Why in the same environ- 
ments is one organism initiated rather than another ? 
What is the peculiar condition which causes the vast 
differences between organic and inorganic Matter? 
Why, in the absence of Life, cannot either nature or 
genius hit upon the " perfectly intelligent " conditions 
so as to produce some kind or order of Life. As our 
chemists understand the conditions on which the 
" cell " is formed, why cannot they make a cell that 
will live ? What is the difference in the conditions, 
when in one case a thought is the result of an organ- 



33G Matter, Life, and Mind. 

ism, and in the other a crawling worm ? And in the 
conditions what is there that can be seen or known 
which connects them with results ? Not one of these 
questions can Mr. Lewes answer, and any one of 
them, and a score more that might be asked, un- 
answered, leaves this philosophy a baseless fabric. 

We have now the arguments of Bain and Lewes in 
behalf of Materialism — the strongest ever given to 
the world — and find no essential difference between 
them. Each selects his facts, has his peculiar way of 
reasoning, and neither would accept the representa- 
tion of the other ; we imitate the example of both, 
and with emphasis reject their arguments and retain 
our firm grasp upon Vitalism. 



Absurdities of Materialism. 337 



CHAPTER XL 

THE SHORTCOMINGS AND ABSURDITIES OF MATERIALISM. 

" If we compare the teachings of our books with what nature is 
constantly showing, we find there is no agreement between those two 
sources of learning." — Brown-Sequakd. 

§ 1. TJie Subjective and Objective in Thought. 

IN the conscious thought and feeling I am, the sub- 
jective and objective, are one and the same. A 
sensation is both subjective and objective, resulting in 
one apprehension. With these exceptions all knowl- 
edge is either subjective or objective, never both. 
Psychology is the subjective intuitional science, all 
others are objective and inductive. The subjective 
thinker and things knowable embrace the realm of 
knowledge. To unite the subjective thinker and the 
not-self objective known is to annihilate either the one 
or the other ; to do the first results in Materialism, to 
do the second in Idealism, and brings upon philosophy 
intellectual chaos.* 

* Though the subjective thinker and the object thought meet and 
most intimately unite in Sensation, and we may not be able to draw 
the line which separates the one agent from the other, yet we are not 
to think of them as having become one. The sensation is a unit, 
recognized as such by perception, composed of indistinguishable 
subjective and objective properties. This relation between the ob- 
22 



338 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

In some form the recognition of Duality is a ne- 
cessity of thought, recognized and acted upon by all 
parties — " indispensable in Science," says Mr. Lewes. 
Mr. Herbert Spencer accounts for consciousness on 
the ground that chemical changes have taken place 
in the substance of certain nerves, and that nerv- 
ous sensation and consciousness, as phenomena, are 
" the inner and outer faces of the same change." In 
his philosophy Duality is a two-" faced " something. 
Lewes regards Duality as the Body in two aspects, 
one capable of acting upon the other : Bain, as a 
something, which by "fits" is both "Mind and 
Body." These indefinable and unpicturable con- 
ceptions are formed, not because the facts of nature 
suggest them, but because it is impossible for materi- 
alistic arguments to proceed except in this order. 

Vitalists lay down their platform of Duality in a 
very simple and natural way. The word Mind is used 
as the cause and symbol — as a spirit-substance — which 
is the base of a group of phenomena closely related 
to each other, but which cannot, either in thought, 
imagination, or language, be identified with the phe- 
nomena of Matter; and they use the term Matter 
to symbolize another group of phenomena, closely 
related to each other, as if sprung from a common 

jective and the subjective continues only while the sensation lasts. 
Man, as an individual self, is, to an external world, ever the one person 
and nothing more; and the world, external to him, is the same, per se, 
whether he exist or not. 



Absurdities of Materialism. 339 

basis, and which, in no particular, manifest the least 
kinship with the phenomena of Mind. They assume 
for each class of phenomena a separate, substantive, 
self -centered, unitary cause. Of the nature or essence 
of the substance called Mind, they have no knowl- 
edge, and can form no conception ; of the nature or 
essence of the substance called Matter, they are equally 
ignorant. Beyond phenomena and their necessary 
substantive causes in neither field of thought is it 
possible to take a step. 

From the fact that, in no one particular, can the 
two classes of phenomena be made to blend, the de- 
duction seems to be inevitable, that each has a sepa- 
rate basal cause of its own ; as all the knowing is in 
the Mind, it is subjective, and as in Matter there is 
no knowledge nor consciousness, it is objective and 
known. 

The proof we have that the Mind is substance en- 
dowed with properties and forces of its own, is of the 
same kind, and of equal if not superior strength, to 
the proof we have that Matter is an objective sub- 
stance, endowed with properties and forces of its 
own. The word stone is used as the symbol 
of a group of necessary phenomena ; the essence or 
essences of which are unknown. The word diamond 
symbolizes a peculiar group of phenomena, and we 
may say they are the necessary expression of crystal- 
lized carbon, but of the nature of the carbon we can 
form no conception. The word sheep is used as a 



340 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

symbol of a very different class of phenomena, but all 
we can know of that animal is what is presented in 
its phenomena — the phenomena prove the facts of its 
existence. The word Mind is used to symbolize our 
ideas of perception, reason, imagination, memory, un- 
derstanding, thought, or thinking, will, love, hate, 
joy, sorrow, and remorse; but the nature of the 
essence or substance of which the word Mind is the 
symbol we know nothing. It is a necessity of thought 
that for the phenomena of both classes and orders of 
being we postulate distinct substantive causes, else 
mind soars in a vacuum, and especially is the logical 
faculty left without support. Yitalists recognize the 
existence of a substance of the spirit-order with 
which mental phenomena agree ; also Material sub- 
stances with which their phenomena agree. Mental 
phenomena they cannot associate with a material 
base, nor material phenomena with a mental base ; nor 
is it possible for even the Materialist, by clear think- 
ing, to do either ; for Materialists are as fully subject 
to the laws of thought as their opponents. Monistic 
philosophy recognizes but one substance, having by 
" fits," two " faces," two " aspects," at one moment 
" Mind," at the next " Body." Such is the ground 
occupied by Bain, Spencer, Lewes, and others. As the 
first step in the study of Mind and Body the dis- 
tinctions, subjective and objective, must be fixed and 
clear in the argument and never lost sight of for a 
moment. 



Absurdities oe Materialism. 341 

I think of the thoughts, the feelings, and purposes 
I have had, as of acts performed, and they are ob- 
jective. The subjective self thinks of them as objects 
of thought. " In the philosophy of Mind," says Sir 
William Hamilton, " subjective denotes what is to be 
referred to the thinking subject, the ego; objective, 
what belongs to the object of thought, the non-ego." 

All the goings forth of the Mind, such as perceiv- 
ing, comparing, reasoning, thinking, imagining, deter- 
mining, loving, hoping, and desiring, are to be classed 
as subjective activities, whereas the things external on 
which these activities are expended are to be held 
rigidly in the objective. 

Sir William Hamilton says, further : " Objective 
means that which belongs to, or proceeds from, the 
objective known, and not from the subject know- 
ing; and this denotes what is real, in opposition to 
that which is ideal — what exists in nature, in con- 
trast to what exists merely in the thoughts of the 
individual." 

Consciousness extends to every part and act of the 
subjective, and observation has nothing to do with 
it ; its field of action is the external world, or the not- 
self. Whatever perception and conception are to 
things not ourselves, consciousness is to things within 
us ; and it is in consciousness that the external or 
objective world is known as a reality — known as a 
fact ; for we comprehend but little that it contains. 
There can be no conscious, subjective act, which does 



342 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

not awaken a further consciousness of an object 
— the self — a thought, a feeling, a purpose, or some- 
thing else external to itself. 

Sciences, such as Mathematics, Chemistry, Anat- 
omy, Geology, together with all the philosophies of 
which they are the bases, are in the objective ; Psy- 
chology takes us away from the objective, and con- 
fines thought and consciousness to the subjective self. 
The mental phenomena of others become objective 
to us, and are available as aids to a broader and better 
understanding of humanity. It is likely that no two 
persons possess the same mental structure ; and yet 
man is but one species, and, fundamentally, human- 
ity rests upon the same basis. We are but different 
editions and prints of the same book. 

The moral and mental structure of others we can 
always safely study in the light of our own conscious- 
ness. The subjective self, whose consciousness is 
active, and takes note of every mental act, and dis- 
criminates sharply between one feeling and another, 
is the Psychologist ; but when we leave the study of 
Mind itself, as the ground and cause of mental phe- 
nomena, and mix thought, will, and feeling with 
molecules, tissues, the white and gray Matter of the 
brain, blood, and nervous sensations, or with any 
thing objective or material, then the reign of chaos 
begins. Here we encounter one of the many gross 
and misleading absurdities of Materialism ; it unites 
and confounds the subjective and the objective in a 



Absurdities of Materialism. 343 

unit of substance,, and renders a correct understand- 
ing of either impossible. 

Mind is correlated to truth, and its structure is 
logical. The science of logic is but the formula of 
legitimate mental operations. When Mind and truth 
are in proper relation, clear and easy thinking is the 
result. When Mind undertakes to think a thing as 
it is not — as to think of a circle being in figure a 
square — it finds it impossible to form the conceptions, 
and the inflexible facts render the Mind powerless to 
proceed. A form of expression may be constructed 
which, at one or more points, will touch the case, and 
we may be asked to accept this clog of words as the 
luminous symbol of a truth ; and such is the ground 
occupied by Monists, whether Idealists or Materialists. 
The keenest wits that live, or that have lived, have 
taxed their genius and their language to the utmost to 
conceive and set forth material and mental phenom- 
ena as being the direct outcome of the same basal 
cause. Prof. Bain's conception of change by alternate 
"fits" has not been accepted as truth by any other 
Materialist. Herbert Spencer's idea of a "two-faced" 
nervous change, to be contemplated from its "in- 
sides" and "outsides," signifies nothing, or any thing 
you please. Lewes's two "aspects," one a "sensation," 
causing the "re-action of the whole organism," gives 
no clear idea of any thing. The attempt to recognize 
the subjective and the objective, in either Mind or 
Body, is to utterly destroy the one or the other, or to 



344 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

mutilate and horribly disfigure the whole man be- 
yond recognition. What conception can we form 
of Huxley's protoplasm,*Hiving or dead," it is "the 
same thing?" What is it, in itself, if it can be either 
"alive or dead," with no essential change, and still be 
perfect protoplasm % What his words imply no mind 
can picture as a part of nature. That the same un- 
changeable substance which can neither lose nor 
acquire new properties, should be the basal cause of 
two wholly different sets of phenomena — phenomena 
which cannot even be conceived to have any tiling 
in common — is an incongruity which cannot be 
wrought into a rational shape in the Mind. As a 
whole, the Mind cannot grasp it — it is unthinkable. 
The conception is made up of the odds and ends of 
different and adverse things, and the laws of clear 
thinking, which are the laws of logic, tend to disperse, 
rather than bring together, such incongruities. 

§ 2. The Process of Making a Unit of Body and Mind. 

Let us for a few moments attend upon Mr. Lewes, 
as he wrestles with this problem. Lie says : " The 
only rational question is one of preserving the integ- 
rity of the terms, namely, whether the living, think- 
ing organism presents itself to apprehension under 
the twofold aspect — now under the modes of feeling 
classified as objective or physical, now under the 
modes classified as objective or mental." * 

* " Physical Basis of Mind," p. 38 1 ?. 



Absurdities of Materialism. 345 

We had supposed that the facts of a case were 
"rational questions," and that in representing them 
such terms should be used as would express them 
truly ; but Materialism gives supreme regard to the 
"terms" of an argument, and not to the truth in 
the case. At the beginning of his work Mr. Lewes 
first reduces Mind to Sensation, then Sensation to 
Feeling, and in the above quotation Feeling is "clas- 
sified as objective or physical." Thus a something — 
what is it ? — assumes the " aspect" of the physical, and 
then the " aspect " of the mental, and often this some- 
thing presents at the same time both " aspects." This 
something can be, can cease to be, and can be again, 
and can be of different " aspects " at the same time ! 
But what is this monstrosity that is thus endowed ? 

Again : " The abstractions, Matter and Mind, once 
formed and fixed as representative symbols, are easily 
accredited to two different Reals. But the separation 
is ideal, and is really a distinction of aspects. "We 
know ourselves as Body-Mind ; we do not know our- 
selves as Mind and Body, if by that is meant two 
co-existent existents." 

Once more : " Thus, while all the evidence points 
to the identity of object and subject, there is ample 
evidence for the logical necessity of their ideal sepa- 
ration." 

Here we are deliberately told, by a par excellent 
scientist, that, in this discussion, " the only rational 
question " to be considered is, not the discovery of 



346 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

facts by the observation of tilings and phenomena, 
but so to choose and regulate the "terms," to be 
used in the frame-work of a wordy argument, as 
will most surely reach the intended conclusions. If, 
as a fact, the subject and object are " one " in regard 
to the " Body-Mind," why is there " a logical neces- 
sity " for their unnatural " separation \ " If subject 
and object are known to be " identical," why cannot 
the logic be made to harmonize with the truth in the 
case ? We had supposed that Mind, truth, and logic 
was a grand triumvirate, and that their separation 
brought chaos and darkness into the realm of thought. 

Here are two parallel lines of thought, one real, 
composed of facts, and true ; the other " artificial," 
" ideal," expressed in carefully selected " terms ; " the 
first establishes Vitalism, the second Materialism. It 
appears that the assumed facts — the "identity of 
subject and object," Body and Mind — cannot be 
made to harmonize with all other facts in the case, and 
this discrepancy is to be remedied by the "logical 
artifice " of an ideal separation which shall " preserve " 
the " integrity of the terms ! " Would Mr. Lewes 
have made these admissions except under a dire 
compulsion ? 

Such shuffling expedients "to preserve the integ- 
rity of the terms" of an argument, are of them- 
selves enough to condemn any cause which demands 
it to irredeemable contempt. And of this very pro- 
cedure Mr. Lewes says: "Our conceptions of this 



Absurdities of Materialism. 347 

reality, however, are expressed in symbols represent- 
ing different classes of feelings, objective and sub- 
jective, and to employ the terms of one class to des- 
ignate the conceptions of the other is to frustrate the 
very purpose of language." 

Of what value, then, are the arguments which up- 
hold the claims of Materialism, since they are based 
upon the " identity of subject and object," and the 
very " purposes of language are frustrated " in this 
attempt to preserve the " integrity of its terms " in 
viewing them as " objective and subjective ? " Can the 
nineteenth century accept conclusions so momentous 
as those involved in Materialism, when it considers 
that their only support is an argument fictitiously put 
up for the purpose ? 

§ 3. Materialists confessedly use a False Terminology. 

Certainty and clearness in science demand that 
such terms be used as express exactly the writer's 
meaning. The imperfection of language, but far 
more the careless use of it, have greatly retarded 
progress in knowledge. It seems incredible that a 
respectable school in philosophy should, without the 
least disguise, in a wholesale way, set aside a usual 
and well-understood terminology, and substitute for 
it another just the opposite ; but let the following 
quotations from Lewes, Huxley, Tyndall, and Spen- 
cer vindicate the truth of our charge. We begin 
with Mr. Lewes : " Vital facts, especially facts of 



348 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

sensibility, have factors neither discernible in me- 
chanics nor expressible in mechanical terms. We 
cannot ignore them, although, for analytical purposes, 
we may provisionally set them aside." * That is, in 
order to frame an argument in support of Material- 
ism, the " vital facts," that is, the Life and Mind of 
man, because their phenomena cannot be expressed in 
terms of " Matter " or " mechanics," must be " set 
aside ; " this slight affair being " provisionally " at- 
tended to, on the basis of what is left — the body — the 
" analytical purpose " of reaching a Materialistic con- 
clusion can be accomplished. The violence of " set- 
ting aside " the main factors which go to make up a 
conclusion touches keenly the logical sensibility of Mr. 
Lewes, and he puts the case differently, as follows : 

" The question is : Can we translate all pyscholog- 
ical phenomena in mechanical terms ? If we can we 
ought, because these terms have the immense advan- 
tage of being exact, dealing as they do with quantita- 
tive relations." Mr. Lewes confesses that this " arti- 
fice " cannot be made to succeed, and the only way 
to get along with the argument is to "set aside" the 
vital phenomena of all living creatures and argue the 
case out with what is left. He says : " The objective 
interpretation of vital and mental phenomena has the 
incomparable advantage of simplifying research, keep- 
ing it fixed on physical processes, instead of being 
perturbed by suggestions of metaphysical processes." 

* Page 361. 



Absurdities of Materialism. 349 

Yes, exactly ! " Set aside " " all vital and mental 
phenomena," consider only " physical processes," and 
the investigation of the problems of the "Physical 
Basis of Mind " will be greatly " simplified, and 
materialistic conclusions easily reached. Or, as a 
means of avoiding this " provisional " work of " set- 
ting aside " vital phenomena, why not take a clod or 
a wheel-barrow ; for the analysis of them will give 
materialistic results without being " perturbed " by 
" metaphysical suggestions." The argument will 
parallel the following : A stone is pure Matter, there- 
fore man has neither a vital nor mental being. 

But of what value is this philosophy considered as 
an exposition of the real nature of the whole man? 
Mr. Lewes seems to have felt that it possessed but lit- 
tle force ; for he adds : " While it is necessary to keep 
the investigation of a process on its objective side 
limited to objective conditions, and to express the 
result in objective terms, we must remember that 
this is but an artifice ; above all, we must remember 
that even within the objective limits our analyses are 
only provisional, and must be fully rectified by a 
restoration of all the elements we have previously set 
aside." This means, that in the solution of the prob- 
lem of Mind and Body we may throw out on the 
start the mental factor, and reach a conclusion by an 
examination of the body, and then by some means 
bring back this displaced factor. If the author meant 
that Physiology should be examined in the light of 



350 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

its own facts, inductively as a distinct and complete 
science, and that Psychology be studied intuitively, 
and that together they should be made to explain the 
phenomena of Mind and Body, his " process of re- 
search " we should commend ; but he does not mean 
any such thing. He regards man simply and solely 
as a Material organism, and Mind is the " reaction of 
the entire organism " upon an impression made upon 
a sense-organ. The sensation is one " aspect " and 
the " reaction " the other " aspect " of the same sub- 
stance. The reaction is the objective " aspect ; " that 
alone is to be considered, and at every step a material- 
istic terminology is to be used. How the false conclu- 
sion, which is inevitable because of the rejected factor, 
is to be "rectified" by its "restoration," is one of the 
mysteries of materialistic reasoning our author does 
not attempt to explain. He contents himself by say- 
ing : " The separation of the objective mechanical 
from the subjective psychological is a logical artifice, 
indispensable in research, but it is only an artifice." 
Why resort to a truth-disfiguring artifice ? It is done 
professedly that vital phenomena may be expressed 
in "mechanical" "terms" — that is, wholly ignored. 
We should certainly be obliged to Mr. Lewes for re- 
vealing to us so fully his fraudulent method of argu- 
mentation, and in the future, when we are presented 
with vagaries for facts, half-truths for whole truths, 
figments for observed verities, we shall treat such 
things patiently, as " logical artifices " " indispensable 



Absurdities of Materialism. '351 

to research " into the mysteries of the Positive Phil- 
osophy. Mr. Lewes once more : " All physical facts 
are mental facts expressed in objective terms, and 
mental facts are physical facts expressed in subjective 
terms." (Italics his.) We will assume that this state- 
ment is intended to express the truth, and that it is 
not a " logical artifice." Let us, then, try it, and see 
if there is any truth in it. That the pyramid Cheops, 
built ages ago of huge rocks, at an expense of one 
hundred thousand lives, still stands in Egypt, is a 
" physical fact." Does thinking of this "fact" create 
another and a parallel pyramid in my mind as a 
" material fact % " Have I more than an idea of it ? 
Again, I think of a tree ; that thinking, as a mental 
act, constitutes a " mental fact." Is, then, the sub- 
jective self thinking identical with the objective tree 
of which I think ? So teaches Mr. Lewes. But this 
mixing and identifying the subjective and the objec- 
tive, the mental and the physical, in carefully selected 
" terms," may be only an " artifice " " to set aside " all 
vital and mental phenomena, that the argument may 
not be " perturbed" by any thought of Spirit or Mind. 

§ 4. Materialism finds an Antagonist in the Inflexibility 
of Language. 

We will now look at the absurdities of Professor 
Huxley's terminology. He says : * " In itself it is 
of little moment whether we express the phenomena 

* "Lay Sermons," English edition, p. 145. 



352 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

of Matter in terms of Spirit or the phenomena of 
Spirit in terms of Matter." [This carefully worded 
parallel of vital with materialistic terms is but a tub 
thrown to the whale.] 

" Matter may be regarded as a form of thought ; 
thought may be regarded as a property of Matter ; 
each statement has a certain relative truth. But with 
a view to the progress of science, the materialistic 
terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it 
connects thought with the other phenomena of the 
universe, and suggests inquiry into the nature of those 
physical conditions or concomitants of thought which 
are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of 
which may in future help us to exercise the same 
kind of control over the world of thought as we al- 
ready possess in respect to the material world ; 
whereas the alternative of a spiritualistic terminology 
is utterly barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity 
and confusion of ideas. Thus there can be but little 
doubt that the further science advances, the more ex- 
tensively and consistently will all phenomena of nature 
be represented by materialistic formula and symbols." 

We respect Mr. Huxley for letting us know exactly 
what he thinks. Strange that the " utterly barren 
spiritualistic terminology " should have found its 
way into all languages and all hearts. But Mr. Hux- 
ley is Matter intoxicated, and terms of vitality serve 
as a check upon his intellectual revelries. Banish 
such " utterly barren " terms as spirit, mind, soul, 



Absurdities of Materialism. 353 

consciousness, intellect, reason, thought, will, con- 
science, and immortality from language, and substi- 
tute for them the terms " aspects," " conditions," 
"mechanism," "affinity," "molecules," "protoplasm," 
" shocks," " thrills," " nerve currents," " reactions," 
" cells," " stimulants," " irritations," " pinches," and 
the prospects for the triumph of Materialism would 
be increased. Language is a growth, rooted in the 
heart of the people using it, and fed and nourished by 
their inmost and deepest thoughts, longings, and hopes. 
To change essentially a nation's language implies that 
the thoughts, the feelings, and inspirations of the 
people be changed. Touch man's mental structure, 
transform and essentially modify the elements of hu- 
manity, and, as a result, its language will be modified 
accordingly. Language is fruit, and as is the tree, so 
will be its fruit. In the impulses of man's heart and 
in the inflexibility of language truth finds an impreg- 
nable fortress. 

Mr. Huxley's cool proposition to do away with all 
terms of Life and Mind is a confession of the absolute 
helplessness of his cause. Should we permit him to 
dress up the royal heir of immortality in his dirty 
rags, it would speedily shake them off, and cast them, 
in disdain, at his feet. The nature of the case forbids 
compliance with his demand ; for Mind will remain 
Mind, call it by what name you will. It is not 
only the terminology but also the underlying facts 

of nature that plague Materialists. But really, in 
23 



354 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

proposing to apply to Life and Mind a materialistic 
terminology, does not Mr. Huxley unconsciously 
meditate a fraud, a cheat? Does lie not, like Mr. 
Lewes, propose to " set aside " or throw out the 
only important factor in the great debate that he 
may be at liberty to " inquire " solely into the as- 
sumed " physical conditions of thought," as its only 
conditions? We should not object to the study of 
Body and Mind, their relation, and reciprocal influ- 
ence ; but we do protest against clothing mental 
phenomena with a materialistic dress as its only and 
proper garb. 

§ 5. Prof. Tyndall Wrestling with the Constitution of 

Matter. 

Far more consistent than Lewes and Huxley, Pro- 
fessor Tyndall would not only change our terminol- 
ogy, but he would go deeper and " radically change our 
notions of Matter" itself. But he will find that a 
difficult thing to do. In all truthful thinking Mind 
is subject to the law of necessity. Call gold by what 
name we may, we are compelled, by its changeless 
qualities, to think of it as we do. Our notions of 
Matter are fixed by its properties, and nothing but 
the change of its constitution can alter them. 
He says: "Believing as I do in the continuity of 
nature, I cannot stop abruptly where the microscope 
ceases to be of use. Here the vision of the Mind 
authoritatively supplements the vision of the eye. By 



Absurdities of Materialism. 355 

an intellectual necessity I cross the boundary of the 
experimental evidence, and discern in that Matter 
which we, in our ignorance of its latent powers, and 
notwithstanding our professed reverence for its Cre- 
ator, have hitherto covered with opprobrium, the 
promise and potency of all terrestrial life." * 

Mr. Tyndall does not specify the change he would 
have effected in our notions of Matter, unless it be in 
regard to its " latent powers." Would he, then, in the 
" new definition " that is to be framed of Matter, sim- 
ply ascribe to it vitality, as a " latent power." "What, 
then, shall we do with his repeated declarations that 
the " proof of spontaneous generation is wholly want- 
ing," and that " Life was never known to come except 
from demonstrable antecedent life ? " But since the 
hypothetical " latent powers " are " beyond the bound- 
aries of the experimental evidence," and in no way 
give the least evidence of their existence as a property 
of Matter, we can regard them only as a chimera — a 
mere fancy ; and on a subject of so grave importance 
as this, Intellect must have a firmer support or cease 
to act. 

§ 6. Herbert Spencer's Terminology. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his " Principles of Biology," 
gives us the key-note to his terminology as follows : f 
" The interpretation of all phenomena in terms of 
Matter, motion, and force, is nothing more than the 

* Belfast Address. f Page 391. 



356 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

reduction of our complex symbols of thought to the 
simplest symbols, and when the equation has been 
brought to its lowest terms the symbols remain 
symbols still." 

We desire to deal fairly with these great philoso- 
phers, and if the above statement defined the Materi- 
alism of the Positive Philosophy it would amount to 
little more than mere logomachy, with which we 
should spend but little time ; but we are told again 
and again by Huxley, Ferrier, Tyndall, Bain, Lewes, 
Buchner, Maudsley, and many other responsible 
authors, that man is Matter— a unit of Substance, and 
that Life and Mind are mere results — transient phe- 
nomena. Were we unable in any one instance to dis- 
criminate between nervous sensations and psychical 
feelings we might admit that they were of a class and 
had a common origin ; but the distinctions between 
them are so sharp and so numerous that they form 
two distinct currents of thought, running parallel in 
time but never mingling into one. To describe con- 
sciousness and the act of reasoning in terms of Mat- 
ter, as Mr. Lewes says, is " to frustrate the very pur- 
poses of language." 

§ 7. Inorganic Matter pressed into service as Organic. 

Materialists confound colloid substances, crystalliza- 
tion, and geological deposits with vital growth. Heal 
vital growth is the gradual increase of animal and 
vegetable bodies. The development being from a 



Absurdities of Materialism. 357 

seed, germ, or root, to full size and maturity. Only in 
a loose and metaphoric sense can growth be applied 
to non-living bodies. In his " Principles of Biology " 
Mr. Herbert Spencer says : 

"Perhaps the widest and most familiar induction 
of Biology is, that organisms grow. While, however, 
this is a characteristic so habitually and markedly 
displayed by plants and animals as to be carelessly 
thought peculiar to them, it is, really, not so. Under 
appropriate conditions increase of size takes place in 
inorganic aggregates as well as in organic aggregates. 
Crystals grow, and often more rapidly than living 
bodies. When the requisite materials are supplied 
in the requisite forms growth may be witnessed in 
non-crystalline masses ; instance the fungus-like accu- 
mulations of carbon that takes place on the wick of 
an unsnufled candle. On an immensely larger scale 
we have growths in geological formations ; the slow 
accumulation of deposited sediment into a stratum is 
not distinguishable from growth in its widest accep- 
tation." 

According to this idea of growth, it might be said 
that a mass of ice in a freezing rain grows larger, and 
in the hot sun it grows, but grows smaller. Again, 
Spencer says : 

"Around a plant there exists certain elements that 
are like the elements which form its substance ; and 
its increase of size is affected by continually integrat- 
ing these surrounding elements with itself. Nor does 



35S Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the animal fundamentally differ in this respect from 
the plant or the crystal." Tyndall says : 

" But I must go still further, and affirm that, in the 
eye of science, the animal body is just as much the 
product of molecular force as the stalk and ear of 
corn, or as the crystal of salt or sugar." 

We should be amazed at these statements if we had 
not long since become proof against the force of such 
absurdities. Accumulations of Matter always take 
place from without, upon the surface of non-living 
bodies, but in no case is such the growth of living 
organisms. In vital growths the Life is a central 
power; new particles of nutriment are brought under 
its organizing influence and become bioplasm ; the 
bioplasm passes forward into formed Matter, and 
gradually makes its way to the surface as new mole- 
cules internally take their place. What is now the 
bark of a tree was once living Matter at the centers 
of activity; the matter of the craggy shell of an oyster 
was once the substance of the living mollusk ; and 
the Matter of the wool on a sheep's back did not snow 
down from above, but passed from the central organs 
of the animal to the circumference. 

Dr. Lionel Beale says, that in vital bodies growth 
is produced as the result of a continuous movement 
from the center to the circumference, whereas noth- 
ing of this kind takes place in mere accumulations 
of Matter. 

If the phenomena of growth proper could be iden- 



Absurdities of Materialism. 359 

tificd with the heterogeneous accumulations of stuff 
forming geological deposits, etc., a strong point would 
be made against the necessity of vital agency in the 
structure of organisms. Between an apple that grew 
on a tree and an apple made of wax by a lady's skill, 
we may see the gulf that yawns between Life and 
Death. The phenomena in the one case point to an 
antecedent Life, and in the other to mechanism. The 
Life was the initiating subjective, the apple the ob- 
jective result ; in the case of the wax ball, the lady 
was the initiating subjective, and her imitation of 
the apple the objective result. Though in appear- 
ance the one substance may exactly resemble the 
other, yet they have nothing in common. 

The assertion that vital growth and the " fungus " 
accumulations on candle-wicks mean, fundamentally, 
the same thing, subjects the philosophy in whose be- 
half it is made to the gravest suspicions. 

§ 8. Materialism Draws Conclusions from Unresolved 
Factors. 

It professes to deal exclusively with physical phe- 
nomena. Ontology, or metaphysics, as a science, is 
utterly repudiated. Causes, efficient or final — pur- 
poses, or principles of action — are unknown and in- 
scrutable. The basis of the Positive Philosophy is 
narrowed down to a relation ; to knowledge of phe- 
nomena, and to such knowledge as has been attested 
by experience. And, negatively, Materialists assume 



360 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the non-existence of the universe outside of their 
knowledge and methods of inquiry. The range of 
their senses is the scope and measure of all truth and 
reality. As a consequence of occupying so narrow a 
basis the champions of this philosophy are constantly 
transgressing their own canons of thought and laws 
of research. As a further consequence, they are com- 
pelled to follow each other in the same ruts, and 
make the most unwarranted deductions from the ma- 
terial they can command. They speak learnedly of 
" nerve force," of " nerve currents," " nerve cross- 
ings," "nerve growths," of "protoplasm," "molecu- 
lar groupings," " conditions," and " motions," of 
" chemical affinity and mechanical force " in the or- 
ganism ; and, on the basis of their ignorance of what 
these expressions mean, if they mean any thing, they 
deduce all mental and vital phenomena. But if their 
assumptions in regard to nervous functions and agen- 
cies were all known to be true, their inferences in 
regard to vitality and thought, as results, are wholly 
unwarranted. "The problem of the connection of the 
body and soul is as insoluble in its modern form as it 
was in the pre-scientific ages." So says Prof. Tyndall. 
Mr. Lewes says : "We are ignorant of one or more of 
the indispensable conditions symbolized in the ab- 
stract terms Vitality or Yital Force ; " and this is an 
admission that physical considerations do not explain 
every thing, and to him the problem remains un- 
solved. We feel ourselves forced to assume that the 



Absurdities of Materialism. 361 

"indispensable condition" wanting, concerning which 
Mr. Lewes confesses " ignorance," is a vital substance, 
and that it can be nothing else. What authority or 
force can there be in the assertion that " in matter " 
may be found "the promise and the potency of all 
terrestrial Life," since it is admitted that we are 
ignorant of indispensable elements? A superb con- 
clusion considering its foundation, Materialists them- 
selves being judges ! 

§ 9. It is pure Fiction that Vitality and Thought are 
Cerebral Phenomena. 

The white Matter of the brain differs but little 
in substance from the white part of an egg, and the 
white of an egg, with a little powdered charcoal mixed 
with it, is in composition nearly the same in consti- 
tution as the gray matter of the brain. These sub- 
stances are, confessedly, as far removed from mental 
phenomena as the dirt on which we tread. But in 
the one case this Matter has organized itself into a brain 
structure, and in the other it is merely inorganic Mat- 
ter. Very well, yet Matter, in essence and properties, 
experiences no change in its transfer to an organic 
body. Whatever characteristics it manifests as or- 
ganic which it did not possess as inorganic, is due to 
something utterly unknown to Matter. In the ab- 
sence of Mind, nothing can come from the brain 
which had not, potentially, a previous existence in 
its Matter as inorganic. Nothing can appear as an 



362 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

effect which was not an existent in its cause. If 
vitality, thought, and feeling are phenomena of the 
brain-mass, then they have some sort of an existence 
in albumen and carbon. Oxygen and hydrogen, by 
union, give us water, hence the substance of the 
water must have had its equivalent of weight and 
properties in its constituent elements. In this case, 
the transition from cause to effect and from effect to 
cause is easily made. But the transition from brain 
to thought and from thought to brain is not only 
unknown, but it is not even thinkable, Prof. Tyndall 
being the judge. 

Materialism, as a philosophy of nature, tested by 
logic and illustrated by experience, is too narrow and 
too restricted in its fundamental elements and the 
scope of its reasoning to constitute a solution of the 
problems the Mind is most anxious to understand. 
In regard to the constitution of Matter it has taught 
us nothing. Sir ¥ra. Thompson, Maxwell, Tait, Dr. 
Beale, and other Christian writers, by their genius and 
industry have, within a few years, greatly enriched 
physical science by their discoveries. During the 
years that Dr. Bastian was spending his time and 
labor to no purpose, in the vain attempt to bring 
about spontaneous generation, these men were busy 
in developing and manipulating the forces which 
really pertain to Matter. This philosophy has lead 
to no discovery by which the world has been bene- 
iited. The mysteries which hung over the essence 



Absurdities of Materialism. 363 

of Matter years ago still continues. In regard to the 
origin, the nature, and the end of things, it affords not 
a ray of light. To Materialism the existence of the 
organic world must forever remain an "insoluble 
mystery ; " its attempted solutions are a travesty on 
reason and common sense. Its account of Mind and 
consciousness the inward experience of humanity 
must condemn. 

Materialism is quite as Agnostic as Positive in its 
teaching. It recognizes no part of the universe but 
the sensational and the mechanical ; as if five human 
sense-organs were the measure and the counterpart of 
the universe. Its Agnosticism embraces Atheism as 
but one of its elements. According to its ethical 
canons and mechanical principles, man is not a re- 
sponsible being ; the terms right and wrong, vice 
and virtue, fade out into nothing ; conscience is but 
a nervous sensation, and government has no moral 
support. 

Materialism is a philosophy of negatives and de- 
struction. In its wake it leaves nothing but Matter 
and mechanical law. Beneath its burden of absurdi- 
ties, excesses, and shortcomings, many of its champions 
will probably live to see it go staggering to its fall. 



364 Matter, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTER XII. 

MONISTIC PHILOSOPHY. 

" Consciousness, so far from revealing only our own existence, and 
leaving us to gather all other existences by inference from this, cannot 
give us the percipient self, except in simultaneously giving us the per- 
ceived other than self." — James Martinbac. 

§ 1. Idealistic Monism. 

AS our argument now stands, there is no possible 
way of escape from its conclusions for any form 
of skepticism which pretends to be based upon the 
constitution of nature, except that which is afforded 
by Idealism. 

Monism assumes that but one substance exists in 
the universe, and that the one has become all — that 
the simple has become the complex universal. The 
fact that even an easy-going mind at a single stride 
can pass from premise to conclusion of this hypoth- 
esis, and then firmly hold the entire process in its 
grasp, has a suspicious look, suggestive that there is 
not much of it. 

Materialistic Monism holds to the hypothesis that 
the universe is composed of a single substance — Mat- 
ter — and the notion that hydrogen, as the base of all 
kinds of Matter, is this substance is not yet aban- 



Monistic Philosophy. 3G5 

cloned, though not a particle of proof can be found 
for its support. The Universe of Materialism — what 
is it ? Self-existent hydrogen governed by law ! 

But there is another Monistic school of thought in 
the field ; it, indeed, holds to the fashionable philoso- 
plry of the day called Idealism, and its deliverances 
must receive brief but special attention. Material- 
ism and Idealism, differing mostly in the substances 
they use in the cosmical structure, assume the exist- 
ence of an absolute ; the Materialist finds this abso- 
lute to be Matter, the Idealist finds it to be God. 
Having paid our respects with becoming courtesy to 
the Materialist, we must not pass the Idealist by 
without further notice. This philosophy demands 
consideration not only because it denies the existence 
of Matter, but because, with equal emphasis, it denies 
the existence of Life, whether vegetable, animal, or 
human. Hence, if this conception of nature is found 
to be correct, the vital universe is abolished, and our 
long argument is of no avail. 

§ 2. Idealists Permitted to Explain their Doctrine. 

Among different shades of Idealism this form of 
Monism assumes Protean shapes, and we doubt if two 
responsible advocates can be found who in their teach- 
ings agree; and, still further, we doubt if a single 
author can be found who agrees with himself, or who 
can so define his doctrine as to give consistency and 
unity to all its parts. 



366 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

The absolute Idealist contends that we can know 
nothing beyond the existence of impressions and 
ideas. I take in my hand an orange ; I feel it, I taste 
it, I smell it, I see it : and, through each of these 
senses, I receive a specific impression ; these impres- 
sions suggest ideas ; and of the impressions and ideas 
I am certain, but I know nothing more. On the 
basis of these impressions I am not entitled to say 
that what I called an orange is any thing, and because 
I do not know it as a thing, therefore it is a nonentity. 
Impressions and ideas come to me apparently from 
other sources, but all I know, and all I am entitled to 
say, is that they exist ; and I can derive no knowledge 
from them of the existence of an external world be- 
yond myself. The sting of a hornet is no proof that 
such an insect exists. I am not allowed to say even 
that a substantive mind exists on which these impres- 
sions are made. The things which we conceive to 
exist without, or external to us, are nothing but 
effects in us. How these effects are produced must 
remain a mystery. Even consciousness of existence 
is denied us, and there is no data on which we can 
logically base the conviction that other beings or 
things exist. All our mental states, all our experi- 
ences, whether of Mind or Body, can be accounted for 
by invoking the aid of metaphysics, on the ground of 
the non-existence of any person or thing external 
to us. 

But if by the laws of spontaneous thought we feel 



Monistic Philosophy. 367 

compelled to recognize in some way the existence of 
persons and objects external to ourselves, they as illu- 
sions, phenomena, or appearances must be so ex- 
plained as to be divested of all substantive reality. 
It is said, by an authority on this subject, that " God 
is the cause of causes, and the true objective ground 
of our changing states." In passing from a cave to 
a mountain top, or from a battle-field to a garden, a 
variety of impressions and ideas would be awakened 
in the mind, and this experience called "changing 
states " has God for its author, or " objective cause." 
In the rocks and ground we pass over — in the vege- 
tation, birds, and animals, we may see — in the ghastly 
human forms and pools of blood which may shock 
our sensibilities as we pass over the battle-field — we 
must not recognize any thing real, but simply affec- 
tions in ourselves, produced immediately by the 
agency of the Infinite One. Idealistic Atheism gives 
no account whatever of the origin or cause of impres- 
sions and ideas. But even on the theory of Objective 
Idealism our confidence in the validity of our knowl- 
edge of even objective appearances does not arise 
from the trust we have in our knowing faculties, nor 
in the intentional correlation of Mind to truth, but in 
a blind faith that God has not maliciously made fools 
of us. 

Bald Subjective Idealism, which recognizes nothing 
but ideas and impressions, is too much — too barba- 
rous an outrage upon common sense, and a large class 



368 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

of Idealists have repudiated it, and accepted what 
they fondly conceive to be something more, in ap- 
pearance, substantial. A genuine Realist holds that 
the elemental atoms are true things, and self-centered 
sources of energy ; that the number and variety of 
substances, vital, mental, and spiritual, which go to 
make up the universe, surpass all comprehension ; 
that each is endowed with properties and forces of its 
own ; and that some of these are constant factors in 
all changes and in all phenomena. The Idealist, 
with whom there is a lingering remnant of " common 
sense," still " thinks," as he says, " under the law of 
substance and attribute, or of thing and quality." . . . 
" Both thought and language are impossible without 
nouns as the independent base of the sentence. 
Accordingly, we tend to give a substantive form to 
every object of thought. . . . Indeed, every constant 
phenomenon tends to be viewed as a thing." Now 
note the Realism of this Idealist. He says : " Now 
the world owes its substantial existence entirely to 
this tendency." " This substantive character is mere- 
ly the form under which certain objective activities 
of the Infinite appear to us. The Idealist then pro- 
poses to replace the nouns of Realism by certain con- 
stant forms of activity on the part of the Infinite. 
Change in things he views as a change in these forms 
of activity." ..." There are no fixed points of being in 
the material world ; but every-where there is law and 
order. The continuity of the system expresses sim- 



Monistic Philosophy. 3G9 

ply the constancy of the Divine action." The exist- 
ence of all substantive things being denied, this author 
says : " In short, the world, considered by itself, is an 
order of divine energizing. . . . The imagination 
will find more assurance of the uniformity of nature 
in the hard reality of the physical elements than in 
the purpose and nature of the Infinite ; but in any 
case this is a fancy." 

Idealists further teach that the external world, 
having no true being in itself, is only such an ap- 
pearance as we 7ixdke it, or as is made in us. " Light, 
sound, odor, etc., in the proper psychological signif- 
icance, are contributed to the world by the Mind* 
and apart from the Mind the vwrld cannot exist as 
luminous, resonant, odorous." We are taught that 
the moon cannot be inhabited ; can we say it is not 
luminous? Without light the vegetable kingdom 
could not exist, and must we infer that the human 
Mind "contributes" luminosity to this department of 
Nature? May not the same kind of light produce 
one impression upon the eye and another upon the 
rose ? Will geologists admit that the world was dark 
till man was made ? But the broad ground is taken 
that the external world, being unsubstantial in itself, 
is nothing but ivhat it is conceived to be by the ob- 
server. Hence we read : " The world is a great 
system of relations — that is, as the object of science 
and of all rational study — it cannot possibly exist 

* Italics mine. 
24 



370 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

apart from thought* It has its character of special- 
ity and interrelations only in the Mind and in the 
movement of thought." "What will geologists say to 
the assumption, that the world had no existence till 
its existence could be realized in human thought? 
Again : "All relations, as such, are products of think- 
ing, and exist only in the act of thought." 

That in making this presentation of Idealism there 
may be no mistake, we will favor the reader with 
some of its negative postulates. A distinguished 
apostle says : " We hold, then, that substantive exist- 
ence cannot be ascribed to the atoms. They must be 
viewed as elementary forms of the Infinite's action, 
and they owe their substantive character solely to the 
fact that we think under the forms of substance and 
attribute. But to regard them as true things, is only 
an embarrassment without any compensating advan- 
tage. We. decide, therefore, in place of the substan- 
tive atoms,* to posit a series of related activities in 
the Infinite. Such that they produce for us the ap- 
pearance of a world of things spatially discrete." . . . 
" Indeed the atom, as a form of activity, has no iden- 
tity whatever. . . . Physical phenomena, on this view, 
are no longer referable to the atoms as their substan- 
tial ground, but to the agency of the Infinite." " The 
elements, therefore, appear to us as no fixed and 
changeless beings, with properties which they pos- 
sess in their own right, but as flowing formulas of the 
* Italics mine. 



Monistic Philosophy. 371 

Divine activity." " The conception of Matter as 
something given and fixed we repudiate entirely. . . . 
Matter is simply a form of manifestation, of which 
the reality is God." Once more : " We have found 
that Matter can lay no claim to a properly substan- 
tive existence, and that Spirit" (meaning the Infinite 
Spirit) " fills out the notion of being." 

§ 3. Idealism Actualized. 

In the language quoted above it is stated ten times 
that what we call Matter, or atoms, are not substances 
— not real things; and it is stated an equal number of 
times that these things, so-called, are really nothing 
but the visible activities of the Infinite. If I look at 
the sun intelligently I will not think of it as a thing — 
a substance — having being in itself, and as the cause of 
light and heat ; but I will pause reverently before it 
(as do the Hindus), and regard it as the " activity " — 
" the energizing " of the Almighty in a special way, 
producing in me the sensations of light and heat. All 
the sun there is is in my thoughts and sensations, and 
93,000,000 miles away in space there is nothing, for 
the existence of space is denied. If I chance to see 
a crawling snake, I must not regard the reptile as a 
substantive thing, but I must think of it, and of 
course reverence it, as a mere appearance, and in 
reality as God acting in me in a certain way, simply 
creating the snake idea. The subjective or absolute 
Idealist would say, if he laid aside his common sense, 



372 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

and spoke philosophically : " I have certain impres- 
sions and ideas within me, and these I call my snake 
experiences." The objective Idealist would say, that 
though the snake is nothing real, as Matter, yet it is 
an appearance caused by the activity of the Infinite 
Being, producing in me crawling sensations and ideas. 
If the snake be poisonous and 1 kill it, I simply put 
a quietus upon one form of the "Infinite's activity." 
Thus the incomprehensible variety of appearances we 
meet with in the mineral, vegetable, and animal king- 
doms are simply various forms of definite and con- 
tinuous activities, creating in me sensations and ideas. 
Other universe there is none! 

The principles above set forth apply to the Soul or 
Mind of man, as rigidly as to what common sense 
regards the material part of the universe. 

The Idealist says of the body (italics mine) : " It is 
a connected system of activities on the part of the 
Infinite, by which the Soul is put in connection with 
the universe, and furnished with the conditions of 
its activities." It is not stated, and we are not author- 
ized to infer, that the Mind is a real, self-centered 
substance, having properties and forces of its own. 

God, then, is the sole substance in the universe, and 
his activities constitute the phenomenal or objective 
world. Not that there is any thing real external to 
us, but the theory is, that ideas and impressions are 
developed in us by the divine agency, which produce 
a world of appearances though nothing appears. 



Monistic Philosophy. 373 

The activity of the Infinite is such, that in some 
cases it takes on the form of a finite spirit, called the 
Soul, and successive activities upon this primal activ- 
ity creates human experience and history. Should 
the activity within us cease, the Soul would cease 
to be, and the external world would vanish. In 
walking there is no contact of real earth with real 
feet, but such language is used to describe the results 
of the Infinite's activity within us. In such phe- 
nomena, what we call the earth and the man walking 
on it, is a mere illusive appearance. Is this Philos- 
ophy mere Skepticism ? Is it not absolute Nihilism % 

§ 4. The Basis of Idealism. 

Now let us change the line of thought, and inquire 
into the basis or ground-work of Idealism. The sub- 
jective or absolute Idealist commences with a defi- 
nition of being, or substance. Being is something 
that is " universal," the " same substance " every- 
where, " common to all objects, without distinctive 
qualities" of any kind. This definition of being can 
be a description of nothing but nonentity; as sub- 
stance without properties, qualities, or distinctions of 
any kind, cannot even be conceived to exist. This 
conception of being is as palpable an absurdity as 
would be a description of a triangle which denied to 
it both sides and angles. Other Idealists define being 
as the " activity of the Infinite," attended by wisdom 
and purpose. One definition makes it an absolute 



374 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

nonentity, the other takes from it its substantive 
character, and leaves an appearance where nothing 
appears. 

Now, since we have reached the very corner-stone 
of this philosophy, let us pause and see where we 
stand, and inspect the foundation underneath us. 
One class of Idealists, by a purely arbitrary definition, 
rules the world of Matter out of existence / another 
and still larger class follows, and with a different defi- 
nition, equally arbitrary, does the same thing. Hav- 
ing thus, by definition, abolished Matter, the Idealist, 
with an air of pompous triumph, marches to the sub- 
lime conclusion that nothing equals nothing ! He 
cunningly takes from the premise of his argument all 
that he would not have appear in the conclusion, and 
thus relieves his theory of every difficulty. Now in 
the name of common sense let us ask : What is such 
a method of investigation worth ? If we are allowed 
by definition to frame to our liking the factors which 
enter into the basis of an argument, any problem can 
be solved in any conceivable way. On what warrant 
do Idealists assume that being exists, and then define 
it as if it were a nonentity or an " activity of the 
Infinite?" Has the shadowy thing made a proclama- 
tion of its own unreality, or has the Infinite One 
revealed its nature to them ? As presented to the 
human Mind, the external world appears to possess 
all the elements of reality which we can conceive of. 
as pertaining to substance; and to convince us of our 



Monistic Philosophy. 375 

error, we demand something more than an arbitrary 
definition of Being. Thus we think that the basal 
position — the primal foundation-stone — of Idealism 
is of no value whatever. 

§ 5. Idealism Abolishes all forms of Vitality. 

But we have said that Idealism denies not only the 
existence of Matter but of Life also. I quote from 
Professor B. P. Bowne's "Metaphysics," p. 343: 
" If we could observe the development of any germ, 
so as to perceive even the elements themselves, we 
should probably see, so far as the body is concerned, 
just what the Materialist supposes. ... It is plain 
that with this view we feel no need of any special 
vital agent to construct the organism." This would 
be gross Materialism if the material universe were not 
abolished. With this disappearance of Life from the 
vegetable and animal realms there is nothing left us 
of the vital universe. Matter is gone, Life is gone, 
and nothing remains but a nondescript something 
called God. God is the universe and the universe 
is God. This may not be the Pantheism of Spi- 
noza, but is it not equally undefying and absurd ? 
The author before quoted says : " No pluralistic 
theory of ultimate being is tenable, but Pluralism 
must be displaced by Monism." There is then one 
God ; that is, there is a universe. 



376 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

§ 6. Idealistic Arguments. 

But let us, by way of contrast, glance at the Ideal- 
ist's objections to Dualism. He assumes, that if the 
Mind is one substance and the external world another, 
there is a qualitative gulf between them which neither 
can intelligently pass. We are asked how Mind, 
having not a property which pertains to Matter, can 
go out of itself and pass over into another realm and 
learn what is there \ or if it does not go there, how 
can it from a distance act intelligently there % What 
the Mind is or how it acts are questions which cannot 
be answered. What Mind actually does is a matter 
of consciousness, and to deny that it is conscious of 
an immediate knowledge of things not itself, is to 
deny that man is an Intelligence, and is utter skepti- 
cism. In the above assumption there is half-concealed, 
in a latent state, the idea that the Mind is a sort of a 
body having spatial relations, and that its method of 
action is to travel about from one locality to another 
rubbing against things, whereas, the Mind, as a spirit- 
substance, knows nothing about material relations or 
modes of acting. The Mind can remain on earth and 
at the same time be present far away in the sun, and 
there become so absorbed in the study of its sub- 
stances, properties, laws, and phenomena, that for 
hours together it will have no consciousness of the 
rest of the universe. In this sense man may be in 
body in one place and in spirit in another. If man 



Monistic Piulosopiiy. 377 

was created in God's image, why should all traces of 
the property of ubiquity be wholly wanting in him ? 

But it is admitted that something from without 
conies to the Mind, makes impressions upon it, and 
wakes up ideas in it. Is it not a gross absurdity to 
suppose that the passive external world acts more 
efficiently in reaching the Mind than the discerning 
Mind can act, with its complete command of the 
senses, in gaining access to the world ? So far as we 
know, nothing exists without relations, and if we are 
not able to explain the conscious relationship which 
exists between Mind and Matter, our ignorance should 
make nothing against so palpable a truth. 

It is further urged, that as Mind and Matter 
have nothing in essence common to both, there can 
be no channel of intelligence — no point of contact — 
between them. It was on this crag that the phi- 
losophy of Descartes became impaled and lost its' 
symmetry. He could not deny that intercourse ex- 
isted between Mind and an external world ; he 
recoiled from the thought of materializing; the Mind, 
and nothing was left him but to spiritualize Matter. 
This he at least suggested, and this principle gave 
birth to the Pantheism of Spinoza, and it has warped 
every system of philosophy which has since been 
given to the world. But what is there of it ? Who 
can perceive any truth in the statement, that to know 
Matter the Mind must be material, or be in essence 
like the object known % Is not the opposite statement 



378 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

quite as likely to be the truth ? Thought is an act 
of the Mind, not a modification of its essence. No 
principle in philosophy was ever more arbitrarily 
assumed, or pressed to further and more fatal ex- 
tremes than this. When we talk of defining the 
relation Mind should sustain to Matter, that it may 
cognize it, we assume a knowledge of the essence of 
both, whereas we know nothing of the nature of 
either. The arbitrary assumption, therefore, that 
because Matter and Mind are unlike, the Mind 
cannot directly perceive the fact and reality of an 
external, extended, and resisting world, is without 
reason for its support. The external world reaches 
the Mind through the senses, and in the exercise of 
its knowing function — the Intellect's only method of 
action — it receives and examines said world. The 
one and the same Mind, at the same moment, in one 
comprehensive consciousness, grasps the world with- 
out, and as a different thing, the world within. 

§ 1. Idealism is a fancy Structure, having no Internal 
Reality for its Support. 

The Idealist professes to go behind the visible 
universe, and back before time began, and rethink 
the thoughts which were in the Mind of the Creator 
before the supposed work of creation began. The 
Ideal universe he thus sets in order, as the only 
universe there is he gives us and vouches for as an 
exact transcript of the divine Mind when originally 



Monistic Philosophy. 379 

engaged with creative designs, and, probably had he 
been present he might have criticised the plan and 
perhaps suggested alterations. The universe thus 
produced is nothing but God in continuous action. 
Such is Idealism pure and simple. And what is it 
but a fancy structure ? And how long would it last 
should the real world disappear ? 

§ 8. Idealism Dependent upon Realism for Existence. 

But the external world strikes the Mind of an 
Idealist exactly as it does the Mind of a peasant or a 
savage ; rocks, trees, and the ground are to him what 
they are to the vulgar, and he never attempts to put 
his fancy creation into form, except as he makes vis- 
ible nature his study and guide. Then, after accepting 
the ideas the tangible world suggests, it is declared to 
be non-existent, or a mere appearance where nothing 
appears — as if I should examine carefully a watch 
that, from my knowledge of it as a time-marking 
machine, I might declare it non-existent. Abstract 
from this philosophy the ideas — the subject-matter — 
it has derived from substance, and the shadowy form 
left would dissolve into nothingness. For the show 
it is able to make it depends wholly upon that which 
it declares to be a nonentity. Or, if we must accept 
" appearances " — the result, of the " activities of the 
Infinite," as the universe — then God is the only sub- 
stance, he is the sole and absolute cause of the 
thoughts, feelings, and actions of men ; and all beings 



380 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

in heaven and earth are as fully the creatures of 
necessity as the shining of the sun or the falling of a 
stone. Nero and St. Paul stand together, side by 
side, on the same platform of fate, and neither de- 
serves either praise or blame for his acts. They are 
opposite phenomenal activities of which the divine 
Being is the cause. Hence moral governments are 
abolished, right and wrong are distinctions where 
there is no difference, and the common sense and 
intuitions of ages are mere illusions. Our chief 
authority for Idealism says : " Whatever is true, or 
rational, or real (caps mine) in the universe must be 
traced to this Being as its source and determining 
origin." 

§ 9. What is Implied in the Consciousness of Existence. 

Consciousness is a special act of the Mind, one and 
indivisible, yet multiform in the objects embraced ; 
its sole function is as a sentinel, to take cognizance of 
mental operations. The Mind's cognition is thus as- 
sured, by the additional testimony of this witness 
that it knows what it knows, and knowledge is thus 
made doubly clear and sure. The testimony of con- 
sciousness extends to thought, will, and feeling, and 
to their relations. 

Were Mind a material unit it could not thus act 
upon itself, but as we know not what, in essence, it is, 
or how it acts, our knowledge is limited to the fact 
that it does act as above described. 



Monistic Philosophy. 381 

Consciousness can exist only in the present, and when 
Mind is positively conscious a true contrary conscious- 
ness is impossible. We may be conscious at the same 
time, (1) that we exist, (2) that we think, (3) that we 
think of something not embraced in personal exist- 
ence ; and if consciousness is mendacious in one of 
these particulars it is not to be trusted in any. 

Inseparably connected with man's consciousness of 
existence is also a conscious knowledge of his rela- 
tions, and in this knowledge of relations an external 
and extended world is immediately found. Man 
knows, beyond the possibility of doubt, that he does 
not exist solitary, alone, as if suspended in an infinite 
vacuum. He feels as sure that existences surround 
him — existences as real as himself— as that he exists. 
This persuasion is universal, and a necessity among 
men. Man's consciousness of the existence of a per- 
sonal self is so clear and certain and resistless and 
outgoing that, as a mental intuition, it directly appre- 
hends the reality of other beings and things. The 
Mind possesses this knowledge, not through logical 
processes, not by induction or inference, but by an 
instinct of reason ; an instinct which springs directly 
out of its own nature, and which we may call mental 
vision or intellectual discernment. It first finds the 
truth of reality in itself, and thus knows what it is ; 
and then, without the toil or delay of argument, stands 
face to face with other truth of like or unlike nature 
external to itself. At the same moment Mind clearly 



382 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

distinguishes between the self and the other than self, 
and knows that neither is a reflection of the other. 
Self-consciousness is mental light, in which Mind 
apprehends itself ; and in the same light the nature, 
properties, and reality of other things are tested and 
known, and also known to be no part of self. Had 
not the Mind this capacity to apprehend other being 
— were Mind a vortex of self -engulf ment — the exter- 
nal world would have been unknown, and even un- 
thinkable, for it would have been out of all relation 
to man. Mental intuitions are independent of sen- 
suous relations, for Mind, per se, is correlated directly 
to truth, and in the clear light of its rays a universe 
of facts, beings, and things is perceived. The self 
and its relations are so closely connected that a clear 
and comprehensive concept of the one includes the 
fact and the knowledge of the existence of the others. 
For man to know himself, and exist in his proper 
relations, is constantly to receive from, and render 
to, an external world ; and out of these relations 
his existence is impossible. If I am thou art. In 
knowing these things I know them to be not 
myself. 

Let us look more closely and definitely into man's 
relation to an external world ; let us, if possible, stand 
by as spectators, and in the light of our own experi- 
ence look at an Intellect as it is perceiving, or in its 
way looking directly at, Matter. A man tastes an 
apple ; that taste is a nervous sensation when cognized 



Monistic Philosophy. 383 

by consciousness, the sensation and cognition being 
simultaneous and forming a unit of experience ; from 
this sensation Mind derives the intelligence that the 
apple contains a certain quality which produces the 
peculiar sensation. The conscious taste, being a ner- 
vous and intellectual act combined, is the subjective 
and objective united in one experience, and the qual- 
ity found in the apple by the Mind, not by the senses, 
can exist only there, as it is never found anywhere 
but in thought. The act of the Intellect is the judg- 
ment it passes upon the cause of the sensation, and 
the laws of thought demand the verdict that the in- 
tellectually discerned apple is present and is the cause 
of the sensation. In its absence, the imagination pict- 
ures and intellect perceives the apple as a thing hav- 
ing familiar qualities. Thus the supposed chasm 
which yawned between man and the external world 
of reality is bridged, and we have gained access to it 
by the action of Mind directly, and also by the Mind 
through the sense organs. 

Let us cross over to the external world in another 
place and in a different way. I look at the rising 
sun, and freely admit the truth of all that science 
teaches in regard to the reflection of light, the forma- 
tion of an image on the retina of my eye, the func- 
tions of the optic nerve, and the sensorium ; but all 
this physical machinery is utterly unable to form the 
least conception of the sun. Conception is the work of 
the intellect, and it does its own work whenever it is 



384 Matter, Life, and Mind 



done, and in this case sensation can render the Mind 
only the most trifling assistance. Intellect perceives 
a sun 800,000 miles in diameter, 93,000,000 of miles 
distant, and only a diameter of some 22 inches of 
this orb can it associate with the eye. Intellect can 
perceive no image of the sun nor of any thing else — 
recognize no representation of it — but it grasps the 
sun itself, not with claws or nippers, but in its own 
way, as it really is, in all the vastness of its magni- 
tude. Perception, as well as conception and imagina- 
tion, is wholly an intellectual act ; and as such it is 
knowledge ; and whatever I know of the sun is a 
knowledge of the not-self. Thus Mind has direct and 
immediate knowledge of an external world. 

§ 10. Summary of the Argument. 

Briefly, this argument begins with man's conscious 
knowledge of a self, and that this self is closely and 
necessarily associated with things not the self ; there 
it distinguishes its receptivity from without from that 
which arises from within ; its internal from external 
action ; its aggressive acts from counter external ac- 
tion ; notices the collision of the self as one substance 
with another not the self ; it experiences resistance 
it cannot overcome ; and thus it knows by many and 
uniform tests and trials that the self includes in one 
experience a multitude of external relations, and thus 
it finds an external world. We know the known ob- 
ject as distinct from ourselves ; we know both at the 



Monistic Philosophy. 385 

same moment ; the one is here, the other there ; the 
one is this, the other that ; neither is the cause or the 
effect of the other ; each is independent of the other 
for existence ; and yet as different beings or things 
they sustain to each other manifold and active rela- 
tions. Do we doubt the trustworthiness of our facul- 
ties, whose decisions are as above given ? if so, let us 
remember that it is from these faculties our doubt 
springs, and hence it may be of no value. If we are 
conscious of our relationship to the not-self, we can 
have at the same time no real contrary consciousness. 
Then to deny the existence of an external world of 
substance, composed of Matter, Life, and Mind, is 
not only utter skepticism, but it denies that, in any 
proper sense, man is an intelligence. We doubt if 
any but "the acutest metaphysician in America" can 
make a clear distinction between Cosmothetic Ideal- 
ism and Pantheism. If in an appearance — as the 
sun — there is neither Matter nor substance of any 
kind, and nothing but an "activity," where is the 
actor ? If God is ubiquitous, must not this infinite 
substance exist in every act ? If a snake be an 
"activity " of the Infinite, and if the divine substance 
be in the action, ought not that reptile to be called 
hj another name ? But if God be not in the activity, 
then there is action without an actor, which is incon- 
ceivable. Were not this theory of nature so ghostly 
it would be the most ghastly nonsense that ever tried 

the patience of man. 

25 



386 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

§11. The Idea of Substance. 

But what is the conception we are to form of 
substance, whether of Matter, Life, Mind, Spirit, or 
God? 

1. Of its nature or essence in no case can we form 
any conception. 

2. Of its beginning, as to where or how originated, 
we know nothing. 

3. There is now in operation no process by which 
substance is or can be originated. 

4. A Substance is a unitary essence. 

5. As such it is unchangeable. 

6. It is, as a consequence, indestructible. 

7. Its properties and forces, being the only possible 
mode of its existence — being the true expressions of 
its inmost nature — can be neither changed, increased, 
nor diminished. 

8. Each individual substance is a center and source 
of energy, and cause of phenomena. 

9. In their individuality they constitute no part of 
the phenomena of the universe — this results from 
the fact that we are not endowed with a capacity to 
apprehend them. 

10. The solid, ponderable, extended, and divisible 
mass proves the substantive character of its constituent 
atoms. 

11. In the action, interaction, and reaction of the 
changeless primal elemental atoms of Matter, we be- 



Monistic Philosophy. 387 

hold the action, stability, and uniformity of law. This 
law is not an outside pressure or influence, but it is 
an exact expression of the nature of that which is 
governed. Every crystal and every drop of water 
formed are expressions of the will of the Creator, 
and are examples of the supremacy of law. Is that 
in which these laws are imbedded the " appearance," 
the phantom, and the illusion of the Idealist ? 

§12. The Verdict. 

If Idealism be the truth, either as theology, or 
science, or philosophy, let us teach it in our colleges 
and theological schools, and in every way openly and 
boldly give it to the people as a part of their daily 
food. If phantoms are the only realities we have, let 
us make the most of them. But as I, for one, think, 
so have I spoken. It seems to me that any system 
of metaphysics or philosophy having Idealism in any 
form as its central element, robs man of his char- 
acter as an intelligence, makes God and Nature one, 
and thus destroys all proper conceptions of both ; 
then reduces that one to an appearance, where noth- 
ing appears, and lands us in utter Nihilism. 



388 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE POWER OF CONSCIENCE. 

" The sweetest cordial we receive at last 

Is conscience of our virtuous actions past." — Denham. 

" Religious feeling is as much a verity as any other part of human 
consciousness, and against it, on the subjective side, the waves of 
science beat in vain." — Prof. Tyndall. 

" There are two subjects I can never reflect upon without tremb- 
ling; the one is the vastness of the universe, the other that possibly 
I may do wrong." — Kant. 

§ 1. Method of Argumentation. 

IN writing this treatise against Materialism the 
conviction has ever been present that, if Life and 
Mind exist as verities, they ought to contain within 
themselves, and demonstrate, in their own appropri- 
ate way, the fact of their existence, as well as mani- 
fest their peculiar properties and powers. 

A vital school of thought is what we have not, but 
greatly need. "We have labored so to formulate the 
phenomena of Life and Mind as Reals, separate and 
distinct in essence, both from each other and from 
Matter, as to render it impossible for thought to re- 
gard them as a unit of substance. We may hope to 
check the progress of Materialism only by making 
manifest to reason a world of vitality — not simply as 



The Power of Conscience. 389 

an idea, not as an abstraction, but as an undoubted 
verity. 

If it were true that mental and physical phenomena 
were one in time, one in place, and one in character, 
and that the one class were cause and the other effect, 
we should certainly be able by some means to discern 
such relation. But between the two classes of phe- 
nomena there is only concomitance and association, 
and neither betrays, as related to the other, the ele- 
ments of either cause or effect. Matter, examined as 
pure Matter, presents but few difficulties to be over- 
come or mysteries to be solved, but with vitality as- 
cribed to it as a property it is all mystery. Also, 
when we study Mind as Mind in the light of its phe- 
nomena, our pathway is plain before us, our concep- 
tions are clear, and the whole subject is easily under- 
stood. In the one case we are dealing with math- 
ematical quantities and nothing else ; in the other 
we are dealing with non-material substances, their 
properties and phenomena. As we can learn nothing 
of Matter by the study of Mind, and nothing of Mind 
by the study of Matter, the two fields of thought are 
kept separate. At no point and in no way does the 
one subject throw a ray of light upon the other, nor do 
the two lines of thought ever cross each other, or even 
touch each other. If, in this study, we hypothetically 
separate Matter from Mind, and in this state carefully 
investigate the properties of each one, conception of 
both will be clear and definite. To see clearly the 



390 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

properties and the structure of a balloon we must not 
examine them in the light of the form or uses of a 
telescope ; as a means of clearness of vision, and a 
correct understanding of any thing, it must be 
isolated from every thing else and examined by 
itself. 

§ 2. Conscience as a Psychological Element. 

On other pages we have written of Intellect, "Will, 
and of a class of the Emotions ; in this chapter special 
attention will be given to Conscience, as a part of 
man's mental structure. As in its phenomena Con- 
science contrasts so sharply with all that we know of 
the phenomena of Matter, a separate basis must be 
predicated for it. 

Materialists do not pretend to deny that in the 
Mind there is a force or power which is properly 
symbolized by the word conscience, or a conscious- 
ness of self, in its relation to right and wrong ; but so 
far as our reading extends it occupies but a very in- 
conspicuous place in their philosophy. Speaking of 
selfish wrong-doing, followed by dissatisfaction, Mr. 
Darwin says : " This is Conscience ; for Conscience 
looks backward and judges of past actions, enduring 
that kind of dissatisfaction which, if weak, we call 
regret, and if severe, remorse." Wide of the truth is 
this conception of Conscience. There may be very 
deep regret where there is no moral wrong, and such 
feeling has no kinship with Conscience. They are 



The Power of Conscience. 391 

far from being different grades of the same feeling. 
The following would be better if its tendency were 
up rather than down : " The imperious word ought 
seems merely to employ the consciousness of the exist- 
ence of a persistent interest, either innate or partly 
acquired, serving him as a guide, though liable to be 
disobeyed. We hardly use the word ought in a met- 
aphorical sense when we say hounds ought to hunt, 
pointers to point, and retrievers to retrieve, their 
game. If they fail thus to act they fail in their duty, 
and act wrongfully." * According to Mr. Darwin, 
Conscience is merely an animal instinct, associated 
with the idea of justice, duty, or benevolence. 

George H. Lewes says : " The specially human 
faculties of Intellect and Conscience are products of 
social factors co-operating with the animal factors. 
He makes Conscience as near to nothing as possible, 
but what there is of it is in harmony with Mr. Dar- 
win's notions. 

A volume would be required to set forth the dif- 
ferent and often-conflicting terms used by different 
writers in describing the nature and office of Con- 
science : not that Conscience, jper se, is a doubtful or 
variable factor in man's nature ; but definitions of it 
have often, at the same time, attempted to define its 
relations to other factors of the Mind and to conduct. 
Mansel makes a common mistake : " The moral de- 
cisions of Conscience cannot, by themselves, be the ul- 

*" Descent of Man," vol. i, p. 8. 



392 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

timate criterion of right and wrong, for if so, whose 
conscience is to be taken as the standard % " * 

Mr. Mansell, with all his acuteness, is manifestly 
wrong. It is for Judgment, not Conscience, to make 
" decisions " in regard to right and wrong. It is 
important that this radical distinction be kept in 
view as a means of perceiving Conscience as it is, in 
the light of its own peculiar function. 

Joseph Cook has treated the subject with great 
clearness and ability, and probably the views of the 
thinking world on this subject will be modified by 
the force of his utterances. But in our humble judg- 
ment he has fallen into one radical error by making 
Conscience a " perception of right and wrong," as well 
as a feeling. If we accept the usual divisions of Mind 
— Intellect, Will, and Feeling — Perception must be 
classed as Intellect, for Intellect must be made to 
embrace all mental operations. As Conscience be- 
longs to the emotional department of the Mind, 
the moral feeling must be its only function. All the 
thinking is in one department of the Mind by itself, 
and all the feeling constitutes another department 
by itself. As Intellect and Feeling are subjectively 
separate, so are they distinct in all their operations. 
Though closely related, and acting in perfect har- 
mony, they never transcend their respective spheres. 
If Conscience belongs to both the mental and emo- 
tional departments of the Mind, it breaks down all 
* " Metaphysics," p. 153. 



The Powek of Conscience. 393 

distinctions in the Mind, makes the two departments 
one, and necessitates a reconstruction of Psychol- 
ogy and Mental Philosophy. Intellect does all the 
thinking and decides all questions, right and wrong 
included. Things, facts, principles, the circum- 
stances and relations of parties, must be taken into 
the account, fully considered, and judgment pro- 
nounced, and this is exclusively the work of Intellect. 
Conscience takes no part in the process any more 
than hope, or joy, or grief ; as, like other emotions, 
its function is not to think but to feel. Conscience 
remains uninterested until Intellect suggests the idea 
of a duty to he performed. When the decisions of 
the Judgment involve an act that should be done, 
then Conscience steps to the front and becomes the 
imperial power of the Mind — it commands, and yet 
may be disobeyed. An act performed which Judg- 
ment has decided should be done is infallibly ap- 
proved — the approval being a moral feeling ; if Judg- 
ment has decided against the act, Conscience, as a 
feeling, condemns. Conscience, as a feeling, is ever 
on the side of what Judgment calls right in action 
and truth in principle. 

§ 3. Functions of Conscience. 

In this universe there is a moral realm, and in 
man it has a twofold root : 1. In his mental ability 
to perceive right and wrong. 2. In Conscience, and 
its voice as a feeling comes from the profoundest 



394 Matter. Life, and Mind. 

depths of the human Mind. If an act is in ac- 
cordance with our best ideas of right and duty it 
speaks the words : " "Well done ; " if not, " O thou 
wicked servant." In both cases the voice we hear is 
the stir — perhaps the upheaval — of a feeling in the 
soul. 

In denying to Conscience an intellectual property 
it may be thought we degrade it by limiting its 
powers. We give no thought to the logical conse- 
quences of our exposition ; we are only anxious to 
state the exact truth in the case — to read nature, not 
amend it. If we can see it as it is. our perceptions 
will be clear ; if we see it as a part of something else, 
they will be hazy and confused. The close associa- 
tion of Conscience with Intellect and Knowledge re- 
sults practically the same as if Conscience were a part 
of Intellect. 

The Conscience itself cannot think, yet as a Feel- 
ing it is a subject of thought and of knowledge, and 
to a large extent it is an educator of the Intellect in 
morals. An abstract wrong act in thought is simply 
an error, but Conscience, sitting in judgment upon 
it, makes it terrible. An element of right, as a mat- 
ter of reason, is sublime, but incarnate in a conscien- 
tious act, it is the purest felicity. 

Intellect can fully understand moral right and 
moral action only as they are examined in the atmos- 
phere and the light of a quick and an active con- 
science. A pathway of reasoned right does not 



The Power of Conscience. 395 

always bring to the whole man the light and peace 
and joy anticipated. The chart we have studied 
points in one direction, but deep within us is an im- 
pulse, a feeling, an oracle we call Conscience, which 
as a needle trembles, oscillates, and on the whole 
hesitates, as if another direction should be sought. 

Conscience is thus a constitutional moral instinct. 

Conscience is an oracle, and Intellect should listen 
to its voice. 

By constant care in little matters Conscience may 
be strengthened, refined, rendered very sensitive, and 
greatly elevated. 

Conscience may be blunted, seared, and destroyed ; 
but it cannot be depraved or perverted. So long as 
it acts at all, it will approve the right and condemn 
the wrong. 

In its struggle to decide for the right and against 
the wrong the Will is often helped by the inspiration 
of Conscience. 

Having specified with sufficient clearness what Con- 
science is, the main question of its base or origin — 
whether mental or physical — is to be considered. If, 
as Materialists claim, man is a unit of Matter, Mr. 
Lewes would say that Conscience is the result of the 
" conditions " of the organism, and leave unexplained 
what was meant by conditions. Bain would affirm 
that Conscience was a specific nervous " stimulus," or 
a nerve in a certain " state," and leave the words 
" specific " and " certain " unexplained. And yet it 



396 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

is claimed that the connection between nerves and 
self -approved, or remorse, is even thinkable ! 

§ 4. Practical Illustrations of the Strength and Nature 
of Conscience. 

We cannot conceive of Conscience as a physical act ; 
but often, as we feel it, and see its workings in others, 
it seems to be a voice, a balm, or a fire in the Mind. 
Its phenomena are peculiar, appearing in both Intel- 
lect and Body with which it acts. 

For our illustrations of the nature and power of 
Conscience we go out into the world among men, as 
the question is one of fact, not speculation. In mar- 
shaling the facts which go to illustrate the moral 
quality and mental relations of Conscience I avail 
myself of the labors of Joseph Cook : 

"The innermost laughter of the soul at itself, it 
rarely hears more than three times without hearing 
it forever. What is the laughter of the soul at 
itself? Do you not know, and do you wish me to 
describe, this convulsion of irony, of fear? It may 
be of despair, which sends cold shivers through all 
our nerves, causes a strange perspiration to stand on 
our foreheads, and makes us quail even when alone, 
as we never are. You would call me a partisan if I 
were to describe an internal burst of laughter of Con- 
science at the soul. Therefore, let Shakespeare, let 
Victor Hugo, let cool, secular history, put before us 
the facts of human nature. 



The Power of Conscience. 397 

" Here is Jean Valjean, principal character in Hugo's 
* Les Miserables,' one of the six best works of fiction 
the last century has produced. Hugo is no theologian. 
He is not even a partisan teacher of ethics. He is a 
Frenchman. His ideals have been obtained largely 
from Paris. But you open his chapter entitled ' A 
Tempest in a Brain,' and you find him asserting that 
' there is a spectacle grander than the ocean, and that 
is, the Conscience.' There is a spectacle grander 
than the sky, and it is the interior of the soul. To 
write the poem of the human Conscience, were the 
subject only one man, and he the lowest of men, 
would be reducing all epic poems into one supreme 
and final epos. . . . It is no more possible to prevent 
thought from reverting to an ideal than the sea from 
returning to the shore. With the sailor this is called 
the tide. With the culprit it is called remorse. ' God 
heaves the soul like the ocean.' Elsewhere this 
modern Frenchman writes : ' Let us take nothing 
away from the human Mind. Suppression is evil. 
Certain faculties of man are directed toward the 
Unknown. The Unknown is an ocean. What is 
Conscience ? The compass of the Unknown.' (' Les 
Miserables,' chapter entitled ' Parenthesis.') 

" Yaljean here has been in the galleys. He has 
escaped, assumed another name, and has become the 
mayor of a thriving French town. In his business 
he acquires the respect of all who know him. But 
one day an old man who had stolen a bough of apples, 



398 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

and who looks like Jean Valjean, is arrested as Val- 
jean himself, and is in danger of being condemned to 
the galleys for life. There is a striking resemblance 
between the faces of the two men. The true Valjean 
is brought face to face with the question whether he 
will confess his identity or allow another man to go 
to the galleys in his place. Valjean has tried to re- 
cover his character. A bishop, who taught him 
religious truth, seems to hover in the air over him. 
A couple of golden candlesticks, which the bishop 
gave him, he treasures as possessions priceless for 
their reminiscences. He goes to his room, shuts him- 
self in, and, as Victor Hugo affirms, he was not alone, 
although no other man was there. Valjean meditates 
on his duty, and his mind becomes weary under the 
tempest of conflicting motives. Shall he go back to 
the galleys ? Shall he be whipped up the side of the 
hulks every night in loathsome company ? Shall he 
feel the irons on his ankles and on his wrists ? Shall 
he hear nothing but obscenity and profanity the live- 
long, hard-working day? Shall he give up the 
opportunity of being a benefactor to a wide circle of 
the poor ? Ought he not to make money that he may 
give it away ? We have forgers who ask that ques- 
tion. It is said that some men have thought it a 
convenient modern trick in trade to endeavor to per- 
suade one's self that the infinite weight of the word 
ought lies on the side of philanthropic forgery. But 
Victor Hugo does not represent Jean Valjean as of 



The Power of Conscience. 399 

that opinion. In spite of all the temptations found 
on that side, Valjean at last concludes that it is his 
duty to declare his identity and save his Champ- 
mathieu from the galleys. 

" But, then, as you remember, there comes another 
thought to Valjean. Fantine, a ward of his, and her 
child, Cosette, depend on him exclusively. The 
mother has suffered nearly every thing, and deserved 
to suffer much, but, without Yaljean, her life and that 
of her child's will be a ruin. ' Is it not,' he asks, ' a 
clear case that this old man, who has but a few years 
to live, is worth less than these two young lives ? ' 
Throwing himself out of the case, Yaljean must leave 
either him or them to their fate. Reasoning thus, he 
at last adds his former selfish temptations to these 
unselfish ones. He remembers his duties to himself 
and his duties as a benefactor. He sums them all up ; 
and says that, after all, nobody knows that he is Jean 
Yaljean. He has only to let Providence take its 
course. God has decided for him. He makes up 
his mind not to declare himself. ' Just there,' Yictor 
Hugo says, 'I heard an internal burst of laughter.' 
Hugo affirms that a man never hears that more than 
three times. 

" Yaljean, however, persists in his resolution not to 
declare himself. He repeats his reasoning in self- 
justification ; he thinks that he speaks from the 
depths of his conscience ; ' but still he felt no joy.' 
This sign of self-deception does not induce him to 



400 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

pause. He takes down his old galley suit, burns it ; 
finds the thorn stick, with its iron-pointed ends, which 
he had used when a vagabond, burns that ; gazes on a 
coin which he robbed from a boy, puts that in the 
fire ; and, finally, he prepares to destroy the two 
golden candlesticks which, years before, were given 
him by the bishop, who now seems to be in the air 
at his side, not able to face him quite, but whispering 
behind his ear. He takes these candlesticks, bends 
over the fire, almost stupefied by the violence of his 
emotions ; warms himself at the crackling flames ; 
throws them in — ' Valjean ! ' He looks up, and there is 
no one there. There was some one there, Hugo says, 
but he was not of those whom the human eye can 
see. ' Do this,' continued the voice, which had been 
at first faint, and spoke from the obscurest nook of 
his Conscience, and which had gradually become 
sonorous and formidable, and seemed to be outside 
of him : ' Put into the flames all that suggests 
reminiscences of the devout sort. Make yourself a 
mask if you please; but, although man sees your 
mask, God will see your face ; although your neigh- 
bors see your life, God will see your Conscience.' 
And again came the internal burst of laughter. 
' That is excellently arranged, you scoundrel ! ' 

" Midnight struck. Vaijean heard two clocks. He 
compared the notes, and he was reminded that he had 
seen a few days before, in a shop, a bell having on 
it the name ' Romainville.' Hugo is a subtle poet. 



The Power of Conscience. 401 

He says much between the lines. ' Suddenly Valjean 
remembered,' says Hugo, ' that Romainville is a little 
wood near Paris, where lovers go to pick lilacs in 
April. Valjean falls asleep and has a dream. He 
is near Romainville, but all the houses are of ashen 
color ; all the landscape is treeless and ashen ; the 
very sky is of leaden color. He enters Romainville, 
where the lilacs grow that the lovers pick in April — 
deep allegory this, by a Frenchman, no partisan, no 
theologian — and around a corner, where two streets 
meet, he sees a man leaning against the wall. ' Why 
is this city so silent?' The man makes no reply. 
Valjean enters a house. The first room is empty ; 
in the second room, behind the door, he finds, in his 
dream, another silent man leaning against the wall. 
He asks him why the house is deserted, but no reply 
is given, and all the walls are ashen color, and the sky 
continues to be leaden. He wanders into house after 
house. He finds a fountain bursting up in a garden, 
and behind a tree a man; but he, too, is silent. There 
was behind every corner, every door, and every tree a 
man standing silently. Before entering Romainville 
he meets, on the plain near the city, a horseman, ' per- 
fectly naked,' Hugo writes — and he knows what 
he means — ' and with a skull instead of a head, but 
yet the veins were throbbing around the skull ; and 
in his hand there was a wand,' Hugo says, ' supple 
as any grape-vine, yet firm, and heavy as lead. With 

that wand this horseman was to chastise the inhabit- 
26 



402 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

ants of this city. Valjean, in his dream, went out of 
the city in horror, and, looking back, he saw all its 
inhabitants coming after him. They saluted him on 
the open plain, under the leaden sky, and this was 
their language : ' Do you not know that you have 
been dead for a long while ? ' 

" Men who have heard the internal burst of laugh- 
ter as forgers, as lepers, as those who dare not open 
their souls to their neighbors, find behind the doors, 
and in the booths, and even on the street corners, silent 
men ; and when these criminals, known to God under 
their masks, walk into solitude, those silent men 
come after them; and when once Conscience has been 
finally insulted, the cry of all the nature of things is 
represented by that of the inhabitants of Romainville 
in Victor Hugo's dream. Instead of lilacs in April, 
you have the leaden sky ; you have all the earth dun- 
color ; you have a brazen sod on which to stand ; you 
have this horseman, with the whip lithe as a grape- 
vine and heavy as lead, before you ; and behind you 
this host with the cry : ' Do you not know that you 
have been dead for a long while ? ' 

"Valjean finally confessed his identity, and the 
court and audience, when he uttered the words, ' I am 
Jean Valjean ! ' ' felt dazzled in their hearts,' Hugo 
says, 'and that a great light was shining before them.' 

" Take Richter's ' Titan,' another of the six great- 
est works of fiction the last century has given to 
the world, and, perhaps, the greatest of them all. 



The Power of Conscience. 403 

Roquairol, the fiend of the book, dies by suicide. He 
utters no words which the Titanic Richter, no parti- 
san, no theologian, does not put into his mouth. 
Richter' s human horologes have crystal dial -plates 
and transparent walls, which allow us to see the 
mechanism within. More than three times this Ro- 
quairol has heard the laughter of his soul at itself. 
' I cannot repent,' says the leper, with his pistol at 
his own brain. ' Should that which time has washed 
away from this shore cleave again to the shore of 
eternity, then it must fare badly with me there. I 
can change there as little as here. I do verily punish 
myself, and God immediately judges me.' Here he 
suddenly points the weapon at his forehead, fires, and 
falls headlong ; blood flows from the cloven skull ; he 
breathes once, and then no more. Albano, the serene, 
vast soul which represents Richter's views of Con- 
science, stands at the side of the corpse, and seems 
to hear the words from the suicide's breast and iron 
mouth : ' Be still ; I am judged.' * 

" But, you say, William Shakespeare would not be 
as melodramatic as this Frenchman Hugo, nor as 
serious as this German Richter. He was an En- 
glishman. Shakespeare more than once has repre- 
sented the despair of the soul under the law of its 
own nature: 

:i ' my offense is rank, it smells to heaven ; 
It hath the primal eldest curse upon it, 

* Titan, "Cycle," p. 130. 



401 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

A brother's murder ! Pray can I not, 
Though inclination be as sharp as will ; 
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent. 

Tn the corrupted currents of this world, 

Offeuse's gilded hand may shove by justice; 

And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself 

Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above : 

There is no shuffling, there the action lies 

In his true nature ; and we ourselves compelled, 

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, 

To give in evidence. What then ? What rents? 

Try what repentance can: what can it not? 

Tet what can it when one cannot repent? 

wretched state ! bosom, black as death ! 

limed soul, that, struggling to be free, 

Art more engaged I Help, angels, make assay! 

Bow, stubborn knees.' — Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3. 

And they cannot. But the knees that cannot bend 
are before the hosts of which Hugo speaks. ' Do 
you not know that you have been dead a long 
while?' The knees that cannot bend are dead. Is 
the laughter of the soul at itself a laughter from 
which it can flee ? In the next life shall we escape 
these internal bursts of laughter — from Conscience? 
Never, unless the soul can escape from itself. While 
we continue to be spiritual individualities we must 
keep company with the plan of our natures, and this 
plan is expressed, as in that allegory of Romainville, 
lilacs in April, and the question from the half-head- 
less host : ' Do you not know that you have been 
dead for a long time ? ' 

" 'To be, or not to be, that is the question. 



The Power of Conscience. 405 

... To die, to sleep : . . . 
To sleep ! perchance to dream — ay, there's the rub ; 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil 
Must give us pause. . . . 

The dread of something after death, 
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveler returns, puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather bear those ills we hare, 
Than fly to others that we know not of. 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.' 

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. 

" You say that Shakespeare here is speaking poet- 
ically ? But again and again he utters the same 
thought. You remember Clarence's dream : 

" ' My dream was lengthened after life. 
! then began the tempest to my soul ! 
I passed, methought, the melancholy flood, 
With that grim ferryman which poets write of, 
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night. 
The first that there did greet my straDger soul 
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick, 
Who cried aloud, ' What scourge for perjury 
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?' 
And so he vanished ; then came wandering by 
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair 
Dabbled in blood, and he shrieked out aloud, 
' Clarence has come ; false, fleeting, perjured Clarence, 
That stabbed me in the field by Tewksbury : 
Seize on him, Furies : take him to your torments.' 
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends 
Environed me, and howled in mine ears 
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise 
T trembling waked, and for a season after 
Could not believe but that I was in hell.' 

Kino Richard III.,, Act 1, Scene 4. 



406 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

" ' The internal burst of laughter ! ' Shakespeare 
knew what it was in its earlier life, or he could 
not have written those passages concerning souls 
that seem to have heard that laughter at least three 
times. 

" Out of the multitude of historical examples of the 
laughter of the soul at itself, take only two. There 
is Charles IX. of France. He consented to the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew. He is dying. He is 
twenty-four years of age. He is in such an agony of 
remorse that the historians say there is documentary 
evidence of the fact that he sweat blood ! Not only 
did the blood pour out ©f nostrils and the corners of 
the eyes, but in many places through the corrugated 
veins did the blood ooze. That is history and not 
poetry. He recalled the massacre of St. Bartholomew 
to which he had assented. ' How many murders ! 
what rivers of blood ! ' and he went hence as Clar- 
ence went out of his dream. ' Quelle preuve,' adds 
a French historian to his narrative of this scene, 
(Duruy, 'Histoire de France,' tome ii, p. 120), 'de 1' 
impuissance du crime a tromper la conscience du 
coupable.' You say that this is a very penetrating 
gleam into the recesses of natural law, if it be fact. 
You know that facts of this kind are numerous in 
history ; and no philosophy is sound that does not 
match itself to all the facts of its field : the blisses 
and pains of conscience ! We know the pains better 
than the blisses ; but the nature of things weighs as 



The Power of Conscience. 407 

much for us as it does against us. The weight of 
the word ought is as great when it is against us as 
it is when it is for us. 

" John Randolph fought a duel with Henry Clay. 
He walks into the Senate Chamber, staggering in his 
last illness. Mr. Clay is rising to speak. The two 
men have not addressed each other for months. 
* Lift me up,' says Randolph, loud enough for Clay 
to hear him ; ' I must listen to that voice once more." 
He was lifted up ; Clay finished his speech ; and the 
men shook hands and parted almost friends. Ran- 
dolph was taken to Philadelphia, and his biographer 
— ('Life of Randolph,' vol. ii, last chapter) — -I am 
citing no newspaper clamor — says that on his death- 
bed he asked his physician to show him the word 
remorse in the dictionary. ' There is no dictionary 
in the room,' says the physician. ' Very well ; here 
is a card. The name of John Randolph is on one side 
of it ; write on the other the word which best sym- 
bolizes his soul. Write remorse in large letters ; un- 
derscore the word.' After that was done Randolph 
lifted up the card before his eyes, and repeated in 
a loud voice three times, ' Remorse, remorse, re- 
morse ! ' ' What shall we do with the card ? ' says 
the physician. ' Put it in your pocket, and when I 
am dead look at it.' You say he was crazy. After 
all these things he dictated his will, manumitting 
his slaves ; and, at that day, such a will could 
not be drawn except by an acute and clear head. It 



408 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

was technically perfect. ' You know nothing of re- 
morse,' said John Randolph — no theologian, no par- 
tisan, a man of the world. ' I hope I have looked 
to Almighty God as a Saviour, and obtained some 
relief ; but when I am dead look at the word which 
utters the inmost of my soul, and you will under- 
stand of what human nature is capable.' He had 
head the internal burst of laughter twice ; it may be, 
not the third time. 

" Here are the most incisive words Byron ever 
wrote concerning Conscience : 

" ' The mind that broods o'er guilty woes 

Is like the scorpion girt by fire, 
In circle narrowing as it glows, 
The flames around their captive close; 
Till inly searched by thousand throes, 

And maddening in her ire, 
One sad and sole relief she knows, 
The sting she nourished for her foes, 
Whose venom never yet was vain, 
Gives but one pang and cures all pain, 
And darts into her desperate brain : 
So do the dark in soul expire, 
Or live, like scorpion girt by fire ; 
So writhes the mind Remorse has riven, 
Unlit for earth, undoomed for heaven ; 
Darkness above, despair beneath, 
Around it flame, within it death.' " 

— Byron : " Giaour.'''' 

A history of the workings of the human conscience 
will never be written with pen and ink, for none but 
the Infinite can know them ; but in the light of the 



The Power of Conscience. 409 

few facts we find on record and of our own conscious- 
ness, can we deny that Conscience, as a part of our 
mental structure, is often such a caldron of moral 
emotions as agitates with awful terrors both Mind 
and Body ? 

§ 5. Laws of Conscience. 

Consider the following facts, suggested, in part, by 
Mr. Cook : 

1. When Conscience is a feeling of approval the 
physical expression of the eyes, the countenance, the 
position of the body, and the gestures are all of an 
animated, joyous, and elevated character. 

Such expressions of the body constitute the writ- 
ten language of Conscience. They may be partially 
imitated by the genius of the actor, on special oc- 
casions, but the voice of nature is ever spontane- 
ously the same. In childhood and youth, when the 
thought of simulation has never occurred, the out- 
ward expression of the workings of Conscience is 
the most clear and conspicuous. The physical effect 
we witness can be referred only to Conscience as 
their cause. 

2. When Conscience is a feeling of condemna- 
tion and sorrow, it is accompanied by a heavy 
expression in the eye and countenance, and the 
whole body has a weak, downcast, and gloomy 
appearance. 

3. If there were no shame in the confessions of 



410 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

guilt, and if the most secret recesses of the heart 
were divulged without discipline or restraint, the 
force of Conscience, acting upon the body, would be 
far more conspicuous than as we now witness it. In 
that case the physical expression would correspond 
with the inward feeling. 

4. The thought of a crime, long since committed, 
may awaken Conscience to such a depth of feeling as 
to cause the whole body to tremble and suffer — and 
suffer even to the sweating of blood. 

5. Conscience is a law, obedience to which, in all 
the practical affairs of Life, seems the highest devel- 
opment of character, and disobedience the deepest 
degradation. 

6. A moral distinction founded on Conscience 
opens a gulf between the highest and lowest mem- 
bers of society, and observation, confined to our 
little planet and to this short life, teaches that 
this gulf may become so deep and wide that a 
passage from one side to the other is not to be ex- 
pected. 

A right motive and an approving Conscience walk 
hand and hand. If an action be wrong in itself, as 
may be the case even when the purpose is right, the 
fault, if any, is with the Intellect, and not with the 
Conscience. Mr. Cook mistakenly says ; " Right 
and wrong belong only to motives." 

In our judgment right is right in itself, and wrong 
is wrong in itself, and a right motive is right so far 



The Power of Conscience. 411 

as it goes, but a right motive does not make right a 
mistake of the judgment. The sphere of Conscience 
is limited, but within that sphere it always acts in- 
fallibly right, that is, as a Conscience should act. 
Mr. Cook says : " Without the Sense of taste there 
is no perception of flavors ; without Conscience there 
is no perception of the difference between right and 
wrong." Again is Mr. Cook mistaken. The vilest 
and most conscience-seared men perceive that mur- 
der, robbery, and other crimes are wrong, and that 
the practice of truth and justice is right. Even lost 
spirits possess this knowledge. But Mr. Cook is 
right when he says : " A being without Conscience, 
however highly endowed intellectually, cannot be 
taught to feel the distinction between what ought 
to be and what ought not to be." "Perceiving" 
and "feeling" a right and a wrong are widely 
different mental actions, the first is a Matter of 
Intellect, the latter a Matter of Conscience. In- 
tellect may remain, and its knowledge continue 
long after Conscience has been seared and hushed 
to silence. 

Can credulity reach so far as to recognize Con- 
science as a property of self -arranged Matter? Only 
by a method of false induction is Conscience ever 
thought of in this connection ? Is there in dirt a 
potential Conscience which becomes manifest during 
the process of its self-organization ? Our question 
implies assumption upon assumption, neither of 



412 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

which is supported by a fact in nature or a principle 
in philosophy. 

Our conceptions of a full-orbed man regard his 
physical development as of but secondary importance. 
A pigmy Mind in an Apollo form would fail to com- 
mand special respect. The genius of Esop, notwith- 
standing his physical deformities, was alike the charm 
of kings and of the masses. The glories of Intellect, 
supported by high moral character, can never be 
eclipsed. When we think of Leibnitz, Kant, and 
Newton, we think of three vast moral Intelligences. 
Exalted genius, with a lack of character, have 
isolated Byron, both from the crowd, and from the 
crowned few. Solitary and alone he felt himself 
to be when living, and there he stands to-day. 
In thinking of man we think of a responsible In- 
telligence — of intellect, reason, perception, thought, 
memory, will, feeling, conscience, hope, joy, sor- 
row, remorse, despair — also, that these phenomena 
are the outcome, not of Matter, but of a Spirit-sub- 
stance. 

Daniel Webster's conceptions of the man proper 
were correct when he said : " There is no evil that 
we cannot either face or flee from but the conscious- 
ness of duty disregarded. A sense of duty pursues 
us ever. It is omnipresent, like the Deity. If we 
take to ourselves the wings of the morning, and dwell 
in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed 
or duty violated is still with us for our happiness or 



The Power of Conscience. 413 

misery. We cannot escape their presence nor fly 
from their power." Conscious weakness, depend- 
ence, duty, responsibility, and accountability, and 
our secret purposes, as fully as our most public 
acts, under the power of Conscience, keep us 
constantly beneath the all-seeing eye of the Infinite 
One. 



414 Matter, Life, and Mind. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SENSATION, REASON, FAITH. 

" The human soul has claims and yearnings which physical science 
cannot satisfy." — John Tyndall. 

§ 1. Sensation Analyzed. 
1VTERVE action, sensation, consciousness, percep- 
J_\ tion, reason, and spirituality, are distinct links 
in the chain of human experience, the first of which 
is physical, and the last, in its highest sense, is the 
basis of the Christian life. Sensation, as psj'cho- 
physiological phenomena, is the Consciousness of im- 
pressions made upon the nerves of the body. What 
the impressions signify is a matter of perception and 
judgment. 

Or, Sensation is the Mind reading the reports made 
to it by the Sense-organs. Mind and the Senses are 
so adjusted and correlated to each other that the im- 
pressions made upon the latter inspire thought, and 
become intelligence in the former. The Senses are 
five in number, and Sense-impressions are innumer- 
able ; but as they all meet in the one Mind their 
significance — their only value — is there understood 
and there remains, while the physical part of the sen- 
sation ceases to be of use, and passes away. Sensation 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 415 

takes its rise in the Sense-organs ; but it is perfected 
when its purport becomes an intellectual perception. 
The sense and the perceptive parts of the sensation 
are closely related, and yet, in nature, they have noth- 
ing in common : the first is nervous and vital, the 
second intellectual and ideal. Mind being a unit, 
constructed according to the laws of order and logic, 
unifies all Sense-impressions by perceiving their sig- 
nificance, and arranging and classifying the ideas 
conveyed according to its own laws of thought. 

Sense-impressions may be unlimited in number and 
variety, but in Mind they all receive their true intel- 
lectual character. 

Hume made one mistake which was fatal to his 
philosophy. He conceived that each sensuous impres- 
sion man experienced was an isolated, independent ex- 
istence, and that between different impressions there 
was no logical connection or relation to be perceived 
by Mind. The one perceiving and understanding 
Mind, in which the sensation became intelligence, 
fully digested, and the parts properly related, was the 
fatal deficiency, as shown by Kant, in his system of 
knowledge. A sensation from which perception and 
knowledge are excluded, is a nonentity. A conscious 
sensation always signifies something to the Mind, and 
from one, two, or a multitude of them, trustworthy 
judgments can be formed. Could impressions made 
upon the nerves be confined to nerves, and not al- 
lowed to reach the co-ordinating Mind, practically, 



416 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

they would amount to nothing, and really be unknown; 
but such action is impossible, except in rare cases in 
which Mind is all absorbed in other matters. 

Mind is, then, an intellectual workshop, ready to 
receive the raw material and crude notions brought 
co it by the Sense-organs ; and it builds structures, or 
forms judgments out of the necessary and a priori 
truths it discovers in them. Intellect gives to Sen- 
sation its unity and definable characteristic. 

§ 2. The Sense- or gans Defined. 

Each one of the five senses is correlated to a specific 
department of the external world, and their construc- 
tion is of such surpassing delicacy that on the instant 
they are excited by contact with it. It is known that 
electricity produces the same effect upon all the senses 
without modifying a sensation, and it is probable that 
this force plays an important part between the Sen- 
sorium and the Mind. 

The senses, Smell and Taste, seem to be very phys- 
ical in their character, adapted to the wants of the 
body, and hence they bring to the Mind but a small 
quota of its intelligence. Sight and Hearing occupy 
a higher plane, and give to Mind its widest range of 
observation. The sense of Touch is not a special 
organ, nor has it a special objective correlative. 

A brief examination of the action of the Sense- 
organs, and their relation to Mind, will aid in forming 
a clearer conception of conscious Sensation. We 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 417 

begin with the sense of smell. The object of the 
sensation, we will suppose, is the effluvia of the rose. 
These substances, on account of their smallness, escape 
the observation of the chemist, and we .know nothing 
of their essence or composition, and as substances 
they are known only to the olfactory nerve. In the 
Sense-impression they produce we recognize a vital 
phenomenon, but thus far there is neither thought, 
idea, nor intelligence ; but on the instant Mind is 
conscious of the sensation, perceives what it signifies, 
and recognizes the odoriferous emanations of the rose 
as the cause. The fullness of this intelligence is, of 
course, the result of observation and experience. The 
sensation and the consciousness of it are co-existent, 
mutually dependent, and really parts of the same 
thing. The meeting of the subjective Mind and the 
objective odor results in a new ideal creation. The 
Sense-impression passes away, the idea remains, and 
is classified with other ideas. Mind has learned that 
the rose is a something which exists apart from itself, 
and possesses a peculiar property capable of produc- 
ing a peculiar impression upon the olfactory nerve. 
Bring upon this nerve musk, emanations from am- 
monia, and other substances, and as the substances 
vary, so will the nerve-impressions they produce, and 
so will the intelligence we derive from the impres- 
sions. The Mind is the workshop in which Percep- 
tion and Reason classify and arrange, in logical order, 

the intelligence received through the Sense-organs. 
27 



418 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

The sense of Taste has a special nervous and vital 
basis of its own, located principally in the tongue. 
The unknown flavorous quality of substances are 
brought into contact with it, producing upon a spe- 
cific class of nerves a vital impression ; Mind in- 
stantly becomes conscious of this fact, and, if familiar 
with its purport, passes judgment upon its cause. If 
the taste-impression is that of lemon juice, Mind per- 
ceives that the lemon must possess a certain quality, 
very active and pungent, which is the cause of the 
peculiar impression made upon the nerve. Taste and 
smell are only special modifications of touch. Will- 
iam B. Carpenter teaches that " the flavorous body is 
in contact, not with nerves but only with their exte- 
rior covering ; and, in order to produce the distinctive 
sensations of taste, it appears to be necessary that 
the sapid particles should be dissolved in the saliva, 
and thus penetrate through the investments of the 
papellae in the substance." 

The different taste-sensations are called sweet, sour, 
bitter, acid, with their degrees of intensity and other 
modifications. Mind recognizes the fact that taste is 
not self-produced, and that ordinarily it is the result 
of the contact of the sense with the external world.* 

Hearing, less physical in its character, is never- 
theless one of the most useful, and, especially to mu- 
sicians, most pleasurable of the senses. A vibratory 

* For an account of the influence Mind may exert upon the senses, 
see chapter VI. 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 419 

motion of the air strikes the auditory nerve, and 
changes its condition ; these changes are transmitted 
by a fluid inclosed in the labyrinth of the ear, and in 
some way unknown to us, the Mind becomes con- 
scious of the nerve action. The sensation of sound 
is the result. In this sensation there is no intelli- 
gence ; and all the information we obtain through 
the infinite variety and distinctions of sounds is the 
result of an educated intellect. In listening we give 
but the least attention to the sensation of hearing, 
for in itself it is not particularly a pleasurable feeling; 
but the idea expressed in the sensation is an intel- 
lectual interest. The sense of hearing is situated on 
a more elevated plane than those of taste and smell. 
It ministers, principally, not to the physical organ- 
ism, but to the intellectual man. 

The sense of Seeing bears about the same relation 
to the Mind within, and the world without, as the 
sense of hearing. The pleasures of Seeing are not lo- 
cated in the Sense-organ as in Taste, but in the Mind, 
to which it ministers. We probably receive more in- 
formation through the eye than through all the other 
senses together. Sight is a peculiar modification of 
touch. The direct sense- impression is produced by 
contact. The object of the physical part of sensation 
is not the distant body — a tree, or a star — but rays 
of light are emitted or reflected from it, and its image 
is formed on the retina of the eye. That image, thus 
formed and recognized by intellect, is the complete sen- 



420 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

sation of seeing. The optic nerve is cool and calm, and 
never experiences a thrill of pleasure such as we expe- 
rience in taste and smell. Strictly speaking, we do not 
look away and see the distant object at all ; it comes to 
our open eyes in a miniature form, borne on the rays 
of light, and brings its image into contact with the 
sensorium through the optic nerve. Beyond this sim- 
ple, vital phenomena all we know and enjoy through 
the sense of seeing is intellectual and a matter of edu- 
cation. The sense of Seeing, and the results of that 
sensation, bear but the faintest resemblance to each 
other. "The presented object is on the surface of the 
retina ; the represented object appears without, and 
at a greater or less distance from the eye. The pre- 
sented object is of such size as can be contained within 
the spectator's visual organism; the represented object 
may be many times larger than his whole body. The 
presented object is a flat surface ; the represented ob- 
ject is a solid body. The presented object is inverted; 
the represented object is erect. The presented object 
is double, there being a distinct image on the retina 
of each eye ; the represented object is generally sin- 
gle, the two images being in normal vision united 
into one body." — Mansel. Real intelligent vision is 
of the Mind to which the object is present. 

The sense of Touch, in one remarkable particular, 
differs from the other senses, as it has no special 
organ of its own, and tactual sensations may be pro- 
duced in the various parts of the body. Touch has 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 421 

no special correlative like Taste and Smell, Sight and 
Hearing. The sensation of heat and cold, and of va-^ 
rious kinds of pain and pleasure, which may be local 
or diffused throughout the body, produced by either 
internal or external applications, may be regarded as 
the objects of the sense of touch. In some respects 
tactual sensations are very delicate and trustworthy ; 
in other cases they become instruments of other sen- 
sations with which they are confounded, and lose 
their definite character. This sense is subject to 
great improvement by culture, as may be seen in the 
facility with which the blind can read by the use of 
raised letters. 

§ 3. Relation of the Senses to the Mind. 

Having thus indicated, rather than examined, the 
number, nature, and office of the Sense-organs, let us 
pass to the consideration of their relation to the In- 
tellect. Mr. Carpenter thinks, that " the peculiar 
structural relation of the cerebrum to the ganglionic 
tract constitutes the Sensorium, or the center of con- 
sciousness." Be it so ; if this hypothesis is not cor- 
rect some other is, for there is a seat of conscious 
sensation somewhere. This ganglionic tract may 
gather together in itself the nerves of Sensation and 
constitute the Sensorium. But be this as it may, we 
now pass from the action of physical Sense-organs to 
the action of the Mind in its relation to them. Its 
first movement is in the direction of observation, or 



422 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

perception. An impression has been made upon the 
Sensorium of which Mind is conscious ; the phenom- 
ena of sensation, in which the object, the nerves, and 
Mind share a part, is the result. By the action of 
Mind the complex sensation is made a unit of intelli- 
gence. In the absence, or intense pre-occupation of 
the Mind, there can be no sensation. I notice that 
my clock has just struck ten, but I did not hear it. 
My ear, I have no doubt, did its duty well, but my 
Mind was wholly away from the Sensorium, and the 
report of the nerves was not received — hence there 
was no consciousness of the action of the waves of 
air set in motion by the sharp strokes of the hammer 
on the clock-bell. This fact proves that Mind and 
the Sensorium are two things, and that they can act 
in separation. 

Perception is, as we have seen, an act of the Mind, 
taking into account the fact and the purport of a con- 
scious sensation. The sensation is never complete 
unless the Mind is conscious of it. Nerve action can 
produce sensation only in Consciousness. Conscious- 
ness, as related to the senses, can only recognize the 
fact that an impression has been made by a nerve 
upon the Sensorium ; what the sensation signifies 
must be decided by perception and judgment. 

In early infancy the purport of the sensations 
hunger and taste, it is likely, constitute its first clear 
perceptions. The specific signification of a sensation 
can be known only by experience, repetition, and 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 423 

memory. In a first sonorous sensation there is no 
definite intelligence to tell us what it is or whence it 
came, but perception, by noting its peculiarities and 
tracing it to its source when repeated, in time under- 
stands its purport. In this way we may learn to 
distinguish every tone that can be produced by the 
human voice or upon a musical instrument. We can 
never know by instinct or by intuition the significa- 
tion of any strange sound. 

Sensation is but one of the processes of instruction 
available to the Mind, and a common principle is ap- 
plicable alike to all the Sense-organs. They talk many 
languages, and to understand them is the Mind's 
first business. Each sense has its special work to do, 
and no one sense is allowed to invade the realm of 
the others. The fact that the Mind extends its cog- 
nitions to all the senses alike, and flies, with the 
rapidity of thought, from one to another, proves that 
it is an individual spirit-substance. Man must hold 
that something excites and smites his senses ; he 
cannot conceive this to be the reaction of self, or the 
self-action of the senses; he is, therefore, forced to 
recognize an external world. 

Though Nerve Action and Perception are co-exist- 
ent, the one a feeling in Consciousness, and the other 
a knowledge of its import, yet their functions are 
utterly unlike. I see in the distance a group of 
living creatures ; that is, forms of various colors and 
figures strike the optic nerve, producing a sensation in 



424 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

Consciousness. Perception, as an act of the Mind, can 
see the group of living creatures only as it perceives 
them in the impression which their images on the re- 
tina of the eye have produced in Consciousness, and 
by the study of these impressions, and making full 
use of previously acquired knowledge, Mind con- 
cludes that one of the forms is a bay horse, another a 
white horse, and others are young colts. The eye 
decides nothing in either case ; that is the work of 
perception and judgment. That perception and judg- 
ment accomplish this work in an instant alters not 
the case. The inverted image of an elephant has 
been imprinted upon the retina of our eye, producing 
a sensation in Consciousness ; the difference between 
the elephant of sensation and the elephant of the Mind 
is the difference between the picture on the retina and 
the living creature. Mind perceives only the animal. 
The sun to sensation is but a bright spot, daily 
rising and sitting ; to perception and reason it is a 
massive orb of quite another kind. The power of 
the senses is, as compared to the greatness of the 
universe, circumscribed to small points ; but they 
serve as avenues through which the reasoning ego 
passes into an infinite realm of ideas and things. 

§ 4. Tlie Sphere of the Action of Reason. 

But it is only a small portion of its time that 
Reason acts in connection with the Sensorium. 
Below that plane, in its own proper realm, most of 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 425 

its hard work is done. It may be that some intel- 
lects are so weak, and so dependent upon the Sen- 
sorium for stimulants to action, that they seldom 
indulge in abstract, independent thought. This, 
probably, is the habitual condition of brutes. But a 
Mind given to a life of thought, resorts to the Sen- 
sorium for ideas only when it would look out upon a 
world of Matter. The empire of the Senses is small 
compared to the vastness of the universe of Reason, 
and in its wider range and higher flight the Senses 
take no part. They humbly serve to some little ex- 
tent as the scaffolding on which Reason stands while 
she builds. Reason finds many fields of thought out- 
side the range of the senses and wholly unknown to 
them. The Emotions, the sway of Conscience, the 
range of Imagination, and the creation of Fancy, open 
to the Mind an endless field of action. Mind, also, 
possesses inspirational power, and can supply itself 
with subjects of thought to any extent. Mathemat- 
ical problems and poetic insight lead the Mind into 
worlds of abstract creations which are wholly its own. 
But Reason has its sphere of action, and, like the 
Senses, is confined within its own limits. 

§ 5. The Moral Element in Man must be provided for. 

The world by wisdom knows not God. The grasp 
of intellect is effected by comprehension. Mind is 
correlated to ideas, but not to ideas that are infinite. 
A full and strong intellectual grasp of a truth is a 



426 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

possession of it. Reason can think of him, can per- 
ceive his works, can see in them design, a display of 
goodness and power, but cannot find in them God 
himself, nor adjust man's relations to him. Reason 
has its limits, and when it finishes its work and ref- 
uses to go further, Faith enters and gives to human 
character its full-orbed proportions. 

Let us pass along various channels of thought, 
giving to Reason its freest scope, and see if -it cannot 
find somewhere the living God. We will first enter 
the realm of chemistry. I analyze a drop of water — 
find so much hydrogen and so much oxygen — but I 
do not find God. I then subject all the waters of 
the globe, the atmosphere, the rocks, the ground, 
finally all the Matter of the universe, to chemical 
analysis, but by searching do not find the Almighty. 
But what have I proved ? that there is no God ? No ; 
but simply that God is not a chemical element. We 
dissect the human body — examine with microscope 
every bone, muscle, nerve, tissue, and drop of blood 
■ — but do not find God. We then proceed to dissect 
every living thing in the universe, and with the same 
result. But have I proved that there is no God ? I 
have simply proved that Reason cannot find him by 
the use of the scalpel and microscope, as a part of 
tissue, blood, or bone. Let us try the science of 
geology. We turn over the rocky leaves of the 
earth's crust, examine the fossils of the ages that 
have passed away, but nowhere can God be found as 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 427 

an element in that science. Then, with my astronomy, 
I sweep through the skies; and though the heavens 
declare his gloiy, and the firmament displays his 
handiwork, yet the Being who made all these things 
Reason is unable to find. 

I continue this scientific search after God till I 
traverse all the channels of thought, and my mind is 
forced to the conclusion that God is not in chemistry, 
as an element ; not in geology, as a part of the earth's 
crust ; not an anatomical part of an organism ; not in 
mathematics, as a quantitive factor ; not in astronomy, 
as a part of creation ; nor can Reason perceive or find 
him in any thing or anywhere. And such is the 
nature of the problem before me that I ought not to 
be in the least disappointed. Because Reason does 
not find God, as it finds material and finite things, 
should it, therefore, conclude that he does not exist ? 
This is exactly w T hat many of our scientists have done. 
As a cardinal starting-point in all their lines of argu- 
ment they admit the existence of nothing but quanti- 
tive, demonstrable objects. Atheism is the basis of 
their argument, and, necessarily, Atheism must be in 
its conclusion. 

Should I adopt the hypothesis that all Matter which 
exists must be visible to the eye, I should compel 
myself to conclude that the air, that the atoms, and 
that many gases were mere figments of the imagina- 
tion. My faulty method of inquiry would land me 
in grossest errors. 



428 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

"We by faith accept the fact, and Reason approves, 
that a universe exists, though we comprehend but a 
little of what is embraced in that fact. Why, then, 
may we not accept the fact that a personal God ex- 
ists, though by searching we cannot find him out to 
perfection ? 

In the fifth chapter of this treatise we have no- 
ticed at length the pregnant truth that the deepest 
and the profoundest part of man's nature was the 
emotional, and in the thirteenth chapter we have set 
forth the nature and the power of Conscience. We 
have further urged that these elements of human 
nature should be constantly subjected to close obser- 
vation, for in many particulars they may be the in- 
structors of Reason. Tt is found that every moral 
and spiritual emotion of the Mind has God for its 
objective and leads to him. " Feel after him," said 
Paul to the Athenians, and this was wise instruction, 
for feeling cannot fail to find him. Nothing can in- 
tervene between God and any of our feelings of duty, 
accountability, responsibility, hope, fear, dependence, 
guilt, peace, and joy. The language of a consciousness 
of guilt is, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, 
and done this evil in thy sight." " O Lord, I will 
praise thee : though thou wast angry with me, thine an- 
ger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me." Every 
emotion into which enters the moral element is a 
wave that wafts us into the presence of the Infinite. 

Thus it is apparent that the side of our nature 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 420 

which lies next to God is the emotional. Intellect 
can think of God, can study his attributes and char- 
acter, examine his word and his works, and a richer 
field of thought the universe does not present to the 
Mind ; but to find him, to know him, and to enjoy 
him, the emotional part of the Mind must act in the 
channels of faith, love, peace, and hope. 

§ 6. The Narrowness of Materialism. 

The failure of scientists to find God as a material 
factor, or as in any way an element of science, was to 
have been expected. Their idea that mathematical 
quantities constitute the measure of man's Mind 
and of the universe, excluding all recognition of a 
Creator, is a limited and shallow conception of the 
phenomena of nature. Within us and without us 
thousands of facts exist which neither line nor plum- 
met, nor measuring rule nor figures, can touch — things 
which to time and space sustain no relation. Truth 
is a unit, harmonious and beautiful ; but a part — a 
torn fragment — taken for the whole, is a distortion, 
incapable of rectification and of ungainly aspect. 

But few scientists are satisfied with their attempt 
to solve the problems of the universe on the basis of 
Matter and within the limits of pure Reason. Tyn- 
dall, Yirchow, Darwin, and Spencer waded too long 
in the midst of oppressive and insoluble mysteries 
to hope that their labors had reached a finality in 
science. Mr. Tyndall says : " Having thus exhausted 



430 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

physics, and reached its very rim, mighty mysteries 
still loom before us." The idea that what Reason can 
see in Matter is the sum total and limits of knowl- 
edge should excite only a smile — a smile of pity or 
contempt, as one may chance to feel. " We try to 
soar in a vacuum," says Tyndal, " when we endeavor 
to pass by a logical deduction from brain molecules 
to processes of thought." All mental phenomena 
are, therefore, insoluble mysteries. The deepest long- 
ings of the soul are of unknown origin, and for their 
gratification they can make no provision except what 
may be found in dirt. The least that we can prop- 
erly do as investigators, is to take man's entire capac- 
ity as the measure of the universe ; but it is more 
than likely that his faculties, as now developed, give 
him access only to a few fragments of either the ma- 
terial, moral, or spirit world. Were all his faculties 
so increased in acuteness and strength that he could 
handle atoms as he can now handle sand — perceive 
the interstellar ether, if there be such a substance, and 
grasp the distance of a million miles as he now can of 
one mile — also receive a corresponding increase of 
moral and spiritual vision, it is probable that then he 
would be as able to recognize clearly the verities of the 
vital and spirit world as of this. That such a destiny 
awaits the development of man's faculties there is 
reason to hope; and there is reason to believe that 
man's most far-reaching advancement is yet to be made 
in the department of the moral and the spiritual. 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 431 

Through the medium of his own moral nature, man 
should recognize a moral universe, and though limit- 
ations and imperfections characterize the parts that 
come within the range of his experience and observa- 
tion, jet it is possible for him to grasp those laws 
and principles which foreshadow a perfection that is 
to come. Incomprehensibly vast and varied are the 
substances and forces of the universe ; and the little 
we know may be taken as indicative of a land of up- 
rightness into which nothing can enter " that defiletk 
or maketh a lie." 

There are basal elements of right and wrong which 
are unchangeable and eternal, and they indicate that 
the character we form fixes our destiny. Thoughts 
and feelings of moral responsibility are incorporated 
in man's nature, and nothing can eradicate them. 
The Nemesis of heathen lands is the incarnation of 
this idea. Duty, responsibility, are but other words 
to express man's conscious relation to God. He feels 
that none but God can know or judge the thoughts, 
the feeling, and the secret purposes of his heart. 

§ 7. Faith and Spiritual Life. 

No item of history stands out more conspicuously 
than that man is a religious being ; so much Mr. 
Tyndall admits, and he urges that provision should 
be made to meet its wants. As are the Senses to 
the physical world, and as is Reason to the world 
of ideas, so is man's religious nature to God and to 



432 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

the moral world. What the Senses are to Reason, 
Reason is to Faith. Reason is the basal element of 
the spiritual Life. 

The man known to history, secular and sacred, is, 
with a few exceptions, spiritually and morally, low 
down in the scale of being. Nothing has been too 
mean to be worshiped ; no crime too high to be com- 
mitted. Often the mightiest in intellect are the most 
groveling in morals. The history of the human race 
is mostly a history of profligacy and crime. The 
want of an elevating and directing spiritual nature is 
the root of man's difficulty. To supply this lack is 
the genius of Christianity. 

The subject of a philosopher's reasoning may be 
the existence and the attributes of God, his own im- 
mortality, his mission and responsibilities ; and yet 
no practical act may follow the conclusion of his argu- 
ment. He reasons, not from moral impulses, but to 
adjust the links in a chain of logic. The idea of 
performing the obligations lie demonstrates to exist, 
takes but the slightest hold upon his conscience. 
When did Goethe allow the following sublime Chris- 
tian ideas to take effect in his life % "I am fully 
persuaded that the soul is indestructible, and that its 
activity will continue through eternity. It is like the 
sun, which to our eyes seems to set in night, but it 
has in reality only gone to diffuse its light elsewhere." 
When man's spiritual energy and activity shall equal 
his intellectual vigor, his lack of moral adorning 



Sensation, Reason, Faith. 433 

will be supplied. The spiritual man will then be as 
sensitive and quick to the call of duty and to moral 
distinctions as the eye is to light, the ear to sound, 
or the intellect to ideas. 

Man's spiritual capacity, the highest endowment of 
humanity, our modern philosophers ignore. Because 
Reason, speculating upon Matter, fails to find a soul 
and a God, therefore they become Agnostics and Athe- 
ists. It is the province of the Senses to receive im- 
pressions, of Reason to think, and of the Spiritual to 
feel and trust the Infinite. 

Faith is the trust and the repose of the Mind when 
the labor of the reasoning process is over. Faith is 
a battery charged with all the electric forces which 
Reason and Logic engender. Faith is the spiritual 
action of the soul Faith elevates moral truths into 
the region of spirituality, and makes them practical. 
Faith is the embryo substance of things hoped for, 
and, as such, it is the earnest, the first installment, 
and the evidence of what is to come. Faith is sub- 
jective and objective ; it is characterized by the 
divine Object on which it is fixed ; as such, it bears 
the stamp of the divine Image. Faith in God is God 
in our faith. Faith brings the will, the understand- 
ing, and the affections into a condition of loyalty 
to the higher spiritual nature. Faith accepts the 
achievements of Reason as valid, but not exhaustive ; 
and in its own right, and still supported by Reason, 

it penetrates realms of truth and light which Reason 

28 



434 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

could never explore. Reason cannot comprehend 
God, yet it justifies Faith in receiving him in the 
fullness of his attributes. Reason teaches that a God 
must exist somewhere ; Faith finds him every-where. 

The patriarchs lived as strangers and pilgrims on 
the earth, looking for a city whose builder and maker 
is God. Reason taught them that what he had 
promised he was able to perform. Faith grasped the 
promise as a chart of life, and the incomprehensible 
future became a present reality to them. Spiritual 
and heavenly things, addressed to their faith, had as 
powerful an influence upon their spiritual nature as 
visible things had upon their senses, or arguments 
upon their reason. All departments of life and 
nature were estimated at their true value. God and 
the " better country " were as much realities to their 
faith, as thought was to their reason, or the ground 
to their feet. 

Materialists have concluded, that because the anal- 
ysis of a dead tissue or nerve will not make us ac- 
quainted with these things, therefore they do not ex- 
ist. Consciousness and experience go for nothing. 
The lowest and most obscure facts of nature are 
made universal interpreters. We have aimed to 
take a wider sweep through the realm of nature, 
and to concentrate its pure light upon these great 
problems of Life and Destiny. 



Conclusion. 435 

CONCLUSION. 

In no part of this long discussion have we uttered 
a disparaging word in regard to any part of the Mat- 
ter of the globe. Rather, its constitution has been a 
delightful study, and we have been equally interested 
in the mysteries of its atoms and in the properties of 
their aggregations. We never think of Matter as an 
inert, passive, brute mass ; but as true substance, every 
atom of which is a self -centered agent, endowed with 
forces of its own. The properties of Matter do not 
belong to it as pegs stuck into holes in a board, but 
they necessarily arise from the essence of its being, 
and indicate its only possible mode of existence. 
Destroy the properties and the substance would cease 
to be. The entity and individuality of Matter are 
found only in the atomic elements, and these, because 
of their smallness, are necessarily objects of intellect- 
ual discernment. At proper times and in proper 
places we send imagination into the field of thought 
to do important work ; and it will be well for science 
when we allow intellect, as in this case, and astronomy 
to do the work of both the telescope and microscope. 
Intellectual discernments are legitimate exercises of 
the Mind. 

From the foregoing survey taken of nature, we 
may now inquire: Can Mind accept, as truth, the 
hypothesis that this world is composed solely of 
material substances ? Is there a trace of a law or 



436 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

process discoverable in nature which could bring 
Matter into existence ? If vitality is not a force or 
an energy of Matter, can it exist without an antithetic 
cause of its own ? Have we the slightest proof that 
Matter can work itself into organic structures ? and 
that Thought, Will, and Feeling can then be the out- 
come of such Matter? Can poetry, eloquence, and 
mathematics be the product of the albumen and 
carbon of brain stuff? Can morality and responsi- 
bility be predicated of mere dirt? If man is only 
Matter, does not the silence and the rottenness of the 
grave complete at once his history and his destiny? 
Can he possess any other immortality except that' 
which is common to all Matter ? 

It was because questions such as these were asked 
by the people, and because answers were not swift in 
coming, that this treatise was written. The grossest 
skepticism was usurping the place of Christianity in 
the family, the workshop, and halls of learning. 

But this condition of society is the natural, and, we 
trust, the transient result of the supreme attention 
which scientists for some years past have given to phys- 
ical studies. The laboratory, the microscope, the tele- 
scope and spectroscope, have, as keys to nature, un- 
locked its secrets, and given the world many brill- 
iant revelations. A sort of intoxicating interest has 
been given to the study of Matter and organic nat- 
ure. The Mind, long shut up to the contemplation 
of astronomy, geology, and a universe of Matter, 



Conclusion. 437 

finds itself in a world of vast proportions, and it so 
fully absorbs these things, that all things else gradu- 
ally become less and less, and finally disappear alto- 
gether. Having passed through this experience, 
Materialists, through books, magazines, and lectures, 
have reached and charmed the public ear till all 
classes have learned to regard Matter as the only 
proper subject of scientific interest. It is not, there- 
fore, a mystery that society should feel the chill of 
icy Materialism. 

By not understanding the subject, and by making 
improper concessions to Materialism, most Christian 
writers, during the last half - century, have really 
damaged the cause they labored to subserve. Others 
have done worse still by the indecent haste with 
which they have labored to harmonize the teachings 
of the Gospel with the first crude deductions of the 
Physicists. Another class of writers, in their eager- 
ness to assail the enemy, have failed to secure a de- 
fensible position for themselves, and a school of vital 
philosophy, having clearly defined principles, is yet 
to be established. 

If Life cannot be regarded as in itself a Real, and if 
to Mind a substantive character cannot be conceded, 
then the Yitalist has no ground on which he can stand. 
But if we have not misread the testimony of nature, 
this is primarily a vital universe, and for the purposes 
of its development and manifestation some fifteen 
different kinds of Matter have been correlated to it. 



438 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

The best proof we can give a doubter of the exist- 
ence of any thing is to show it to him, and on this 
principle we have brought vital elements as fully 
into the field of observation as any substance of any 
kind can be brought. 

We have attempted to examine a few crucial facts 
in the material and vital worlds, to explore their 
hidden paths and winding ways in the light of their 
own properties and phenomena, and to seize upon stra- 
tegic positions here and there, which may be held for 
the defense of this wide realm of truth. Special care 
has been taken to make each argument complete and 
independent, and yet stand within supporting distance 
of all the rest. 

The fixity of the atomic essences, and the necessary 
unchangeableness of their dynamic forces, are facts of 
primal importance in this discussion ; for if in either 
respect change were possible, we should never know' 
what to expect in the material world. What is gold 
to-day might be iron to-morrow, and the diamond 
stud might blossom into a rose and fade away. But 
as nature has not registered an instance in which 
Matter changed its essence, or suffered it to be 
changed, it is possible for us to know exactly, and 
from age to age, what its properties are and will be. 

It is this fact which has made fruitful the time 
and study scientists have bestowed upon the constitu- 
tion of Matter. Within the past few years these re- 
searches have been accelerated by the aid of chemis- 



Conclusion. 439 

try, microscopy, spectrology, and the ambition of the 
student, urged on by the excitements of discovery. 
We have evidence that the Matter of our globe is 
identical in kind with the Matter of all the known 
worlds in space, and subject to the same laws. In 
the Matter of the laboratory, the universe is epito- 
mized, and there may we witness the operation of 
its forces from the play of lightnings to the clash of 
an atom of oxygen with two atoms of hydrogen, 
producing a molecule of water. 

It is the wide scope and the minuteness of our 
knowledge of Matter — its constitution, its properties 
and forces — that warrants, in the absence of contrary 
evidence, even the negative conclusion, that vitality 
is not inherent in it. 

In regard to the essence or nature of substance, 
whether material, vital, spiritual, or mental, or to 
a solution of the profound mystery of being, we are 
still as much as ever at sea and in the dark. Below 
us are atoms the microscope cannot reach, and above 
us stars so distant that probably distinct rays of their 
light do not reach our telescopes ; and it is probable 
that the different orbs — stars and atoms — are about 
equally distant from the observation of Sense-organs. 
In this vast universe of littleness and greatness man's 
faculties can take but a limited range in either direc- 
tion ; and we simply know that different substances 
exist, and that each different kind is endowed with 
forces and properties peculiar to itself. 



440 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

As the result of tests and trials* innumerable, 
Materialists, including the champion himself, Dr. 
Bastian, have apparently abandoned all hope that the 
theory of spontaneous generation will ever be demon- 
strated as a fact. In their long and laborious struggle 
to establish the Positive Philosophy they saw clearly 
that this was more than a strategic point ; they felt 
that it was their only possible base of supplies ; and 
in its loss may be heard a murmur of despair. The 
contest for spontaneous generation enlisted the 
brightest intellects of the age, and of different na- 
tionalities in its behalf, but genius is always van- 
quished when arrayed against the laws and the order 
of nature. Nothing has been left undone which 
trained scientist could do, aided by all the resources 
of the laboratory, to achieve success. They were im- 
prudent when they allowed their zeal and ambition 
to urge them into the hazardous work of deduction, 
the work of induction having been hardly com- 
menced. In the absence of Involution, Evolution 
was set in motion. With not a trace of Mind or 
Life in the basal facts of their philosophy, as causes, 
they have given us the phenomena of the intellectual 
and vital worlds as results. Along these lines we 
have assumptions upon assumptions, which have not 
in a single instance been verified by a fact. The 
first foundation-stone of Materialism is yet to be laid. 
The hypothesis has no standing ; it is a draft upon a 
bank in which it has neither deposit nor credit. 



Conclusion. 441 

No fact in nature can be clearer, or of greater im- 
portance to philosophy, than the correlation of Matter 
and Life. The vast and conspicuous results of this 
arrangement is the existence of the organic world, 
vegetable and animal. An organism, high or low, is 
a point where the two distinct worlds meet — the vital 
and material — and so blend into one, as to form an or- 
ganic unit. The dirt of a flower-bed seems to be coarse 
and gross, but when vital seeds have taken it up and 
wrought it into the living, beautiful, fragrant flowers, 
basking in a summer sun, it is not changed, but its 
grace and capacity have been made manifest. An 
organism is a kind of Life incarnated, and in the in- 
carnation, the true glory of Matter is revealed. 
Matter and Vitality are essential, each to the revela- 
tion of the other's power and beauty. 

With the microscope we can follow Matter till, as 
atoms, it disappears where, to our minds, all seems 
to be infinity — where substance becomes attenuated 
to the fineness of all that we can conceive to be real 
in Life or Spirit. 

Besides the substances known to the chemist there 
may be other kinds and orders of substance, which, 
as yet, no philosophy dreams of. The assumption of 
the existence of the inter-stellar ether seems to be a 
necessity. Bat what is this ether? If it were Mat- 
ter, the properties and forces which necessarily abide 
in its essence would compel it to behave like other 
Matter, Affinity and gravity would cause the aggre- 



442 Matter, Lite, and Mind. 

gation of tlie atoms, forming visible ponderable 
masses. What, then, is the substance called ether % 
"We know not, and yet we know as much of its 
essence as we do of the essence of oxygen, hydrogen, 
or of any other element of Matter. May there not, 
then, be substances which are neither Matter nor 
Ether, but Life, Mind, and Spirit ? On any other 
hypothesis than a vital cause can vital phenomena be 
accounted for ? But what is vital substance ? "We 
cannot conceive it to be substance more refined or 
attenuated than the ether or the atoms of Matter. Or, 
as is probable, the different essences are so unlike in 
nature that there can be no comparison between 
them. A vital essence may be as fully substantive 
as a material essence, and yet in the absence of the 
laws of affinity and gravity there could be no aggrega- 
tion of its units, hence its presence could not be 
detected by chemistry. Sexually one vital element 
is correlated to another, but the unit of being thus 
formed must exist in isolation as an entity, distinct 
from other entities. Matter, ether, Life, Mind, and 
Spirit must be examined, each in the light of its 
peculiar properties and laws to be understood. 

What specially characterizes material units, so far as 
we are permitted to know them, is, they exist under 
the laws of affinity and gravity, and as a result we 
have the extended and ponderable mass of Matter ; 
and what specially characterizes vital substances is, 
(1) negatively, the absence of material qualities, and 



Conclusion. 443 

of subjection to any material law; (2) positively such 
a correlation of its forces to the forces of Matter that 
Matter is wrought into organic structures. As each 
material element contains an essence peculiar to itself, 
though unknown, and unlike the essence of all other 
elements, so the vital essence is wholly unlike the 
ethereal and all kinds of material essence. The wealth 
of variety we find among material elements may yet 
lead to the discovery that the universe is rich in sub- 
stances of different kinds and orders, as centers of 
power. Monism is a beggarly conception of nature. 

A peculiarity of vital -forces is, that they control 
the forces of Matter, and work Matter, not into 
masses, not into lumps, but into complex and won- 
derful structures. It is probable that, in some way 
unknown to us, the ethereal substance plays a part in 
this operation. We may infer, from the control the 
vital forces exert over the material forces, that when 
the two substances come in contact, their ontological 
characteristics, in respect to tenuity, are not far 
apart. A Life, as a self-centered unit, is stronger than 
Matter, and this may be so because it is more self- 
contained, and none of its forces are expended or dis- 
sipated by gravity or affinity. Nor can one vital 
unit, in any way, expend its force upon another vital 
unit. Destitute as it is of all the forces of Matter, it 
is richly endowed with properties of its own of 
another kind and of a higher order. 

Is it any more a logical necessity that we postulate 



444 Matter, Ltfe, and Mind. 

the unJinown atoms, of unknown essence, as an ex- 
planation of the lump or solid mass ; or, is it as much 
of a logical necessity that we postulate the existence 
of an unknown ethereal substance, as a medium for 
the transmission of light, as that we postulate the 
existence of vital substances as the base and the cause 
of the organic world ? 

Let these speculations pass for what they are worth, 
much or little, the palpable fact remains that in the 
organic world we behold the union of two kingdoms, 
as the result of the correlation of the forces of 
Life and Matter ; and this should be made the basal 
factor in the study of biology. 

It is not possible for a chain to be stronger than its 
weakest link; and to know that such defective link 
exists, and which one it is, is a matter of the first 
importance. In Mr. Darwin's philosophy there is 
not only weak links, but at one place there is con- 
fessedly a " missing " link, and the diligent search of 
nearly a quarter of a century, in all parts of the world, 
has failed to find it. His theory of nature supposes 
that one kind of Life can become another kind. As 
if the oak could become a pine, or a lion could, in 
time, shade off into a sheep ; or as if the horse and 
elephant and whale and oak could have sprung from 
a common ancestry ; and underlying the entire scheme 
is the figment of spontaneous generation, or the pos- 
sible creation of four or of one original form. In the 
argument for Materialism, furnished by George II. 



Conclusion. M5 

Lewes, the irremediable defect is found in Lis use of 
the word " conditions." It is often used as either 
link or swivel or hook in the chain of the argument, 
and in no case is it possible for the author to explain, 
or for the reader to understand, its signification. If , 
Mr. Spencer were required to explain, or clearly to 
conceive, what he means by a " two-faced " " nervous 
change," * one face material and the other mental, as 
the condition of the survival of his philosophy for 
one year, he would fail. His system is also based 
upon the hypothesis that at some time spontaneous 
generation existed. Because of these defects in the 
argument, Mr. Tyndall says the hypothesis of Evolu- 
tion, as science, is to be " wholly discredited." The 
crucial point in Mr. Bain's argument is found in his 
undefinable and unthinkable and unpicturable some- 
thing, which by " fits " is both " Body and Mind." 
As a key-stone to the arch he builds, he gives us the 
chimera of mere words. Tyndall undertakes to 

*As physiologist and chemist, Professor Du Bois Raymond is 
second to no other German savant. Mr. Spencer is neither chemist 
nor physiologist. Raymond says : " What conceivable connection 
subsists between definite movements of definite atoms in my brain, on 
the one hand, and on the other hand such primordial, indefinable, un- 
deniable facts as these? I feel pain or pleasure; T experience a sweet 
taste, or smell a rose, or hear an organ, or see something red. . . . 
It is absolutely and forever inconceivable that a number of carbon, 
hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms should be otherwise than in- 
different as to their own position and motion, past, present, and 
future. It is utterly inconceivable how consciousness should result 
from their joint action." 



446 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

account for the existence of organic bodies on the 
ground that a crystalline force has built the struct- 
ure, but afterward he pronounces the existence of 
organisms " insoluble mysteries," and calls for a new 
definition of Matter. He thus clearly points out the 
insufficiency of his argument. Huxley's position re- 
quires him to regard protoplasm, " living or dead," 
as the same. Thus it is easy to point out the miss- 
ing or the weak link in all the systems of philosophy 
which are built upon the hypothesis of Materialism. 

But the New Philosophy should not be condemned 
as wholly worthless. It has brought together and 
classified a multitude of facts which will be of per- 
manent value to the world. Material and organic 
nature, in a few instances, has received a new reading 
which, without doubt, is correct, and, on the whole, 
real progress has been made in knowledge. But it is 
a notable fact, that, as the chief result of all this 
searching investigation, the very thing these laborers 
were most anxious to find they have proved to be 
absolutely wanting. Vitality persistently refuses to 
stand forth as a property of Matter ; and Matter, as 
if weary of its tortures, and impatient, seems to cry 
out, " It is not in me." The labor put forth has been 
crowned with success, but not of the kind so anxiously 
desired by the toilers. 

We would apply these remarks with emphasis to 
the labors of Mr. Herbert Spencer and Charles Dar- 
win. The numerous and somewhat verbose volumes 



Conclusion. 447 

Mr. Spencer has given to the world contain a pyra- 
mid of facts he has collected, collated, and classified. 
As these fruits of his industry were wrought out on 
the supposition and earnest hope that spontaneous 
generation was the order of nature, and as not a 
shadow of proof can be found to sustain it, his argu- 
ment is of no force nor value. The facts, however, 
will remain as a valuable possession, to be wrought 
by other hands into other structures, teaching a dif- 
ferent philosophy. 

Since Materialism teaches that organic structures 
are the results of the forces of Matter, and is unable 
to furnish samples of different kinds of such processes 
of nature, of right we demand that it abandon that 
position. That Matter is incapable of self-organiza- 
tion is the stronghold — the impregnable fortress — of 
Yitalisra. Had its advocates, during the last quarter 
of a century, perceived the value of this strategic 
point, and boldly insisted on what they had a right 
to demand, there would have been less boasting on 
the part of their antagonists. 

It cannot be denied, even by the most hardy Mate- 
rialists, such as Biichner, Maudsley, and Bain, that 
the peculiar phenomena called Mental and Vital ex- 
ist, and philosophy, if it deserve the name, demands 
that they be accounted for. The New Philosophy 
boldly steps to the front with the answer : " Matter 
affords the explanation." In the absence of all proof 
we deny it, and now we summon the whole Atheistic 



44:8 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

and Materialistic school to come forward with their 
evidence ; we put into their hands all the inorganic 
Matter of the globe, and wait to see them detect in it 
the least trace of vital or mental activity. We, of 
right, insist that till they have done this, their deduc- 
tions of vitality from Matter are mere pretense, and 
deserve to be branded as frauds. The laws of logic 
and clear thinking prohibit them from speaking of 
Biology and Psychology as material products, or de- 
velopments, until they have permitted us to see them 
bring Life and Thought from inorganic Matter or 
from Matter they have organized. 

We have not felt it necessary to follow the scalpel 
and the microscope of the Materialist into the human 
brain in search of Mind, or make an examination of 
nerves or nerve centers, or molecules, for proofs or 
illustrations of any thing in regard to it. At best 
only the brain of the dead could be examined ; and 
why look for Mind in a place where we know it is 
not ? If Mind, per se, is a substance, then there can 
be no structural connection between it and the brain 
— only a relation ; and the nature or form of that 
relation is unknown and unknowable ; but if there is 
no mental substance — if the albumen and carbon of 
the brain-mass do the thinking, then the mystery of 
mysteries is upon us. The fancied details of the 
brain's mental processes, as given by Prof. Bain and 
Mr. Herbert Spencer, are the purest fictions, eminent 
Physiologists of their own school being judges, and 



Conclusion. 449 

we have not felt called to show their empty assertions 
an}' respect. 

The New Philosophy owes its strength largely to 
the supposed tangible realities of Matter, as distin- 
guished from the fact that Life and Mind always 
elude our observations. Matter, as substance, is, 
without question, in the field of observation; its prop- 
erties and forces are known and measurable quanti- 
ties ; it lies at the base, and is the cause, of different 
classes of phenomena ; and research would be greatly 
simplified if all the phenomena of the universe could 
be explained in quantitative terms. To meet this 
position, we have felt that the fact to be cared for in 
this discussion, more than any other, is the individu- 
ality of the Mind ; that, as such, it must be identified 
in its own true character, and seen in its own light. 
We have proceeded on the hypothesis that it contains 
within itself the best evidence, and the only evidence 
we can have, of its existence and its properties. We 
have drawn not only a sharp distinction between 
Mind and Matter, but between Mind and the Life of 
the body, and assigned to each its proper sphere and 
function. On this point we have expended not a 
little labor, and some of the positions taken may seem 
to be bold, perhaps original and unsafe ; but we are 
confident they will survive unhurt the sharpest criti- 
cisms which can be applied to them by either friend 
or foe. Repudiating the crazy nonsense of absolute 

Idealism, we adopt the atomic theory of Matter as a 
29 



450 Mattek, Life, and Mind. 

true expression of the constitution of its nature. I 
adopt the language of Prof. Tyndall as my own : " In 
fact, it may be doubted whether, wanting this funda- 
mental conception, a theory of the material universe 
is capable of scientific statement." * In the atoms 
alone we recognize the entity of Matter, though of 
unknown essence, and so small that, even when mag- 
nified two thousand diameters, it is still beyond the 
reach of the microscope. The atoms are the different 
units whose aggregations and organizations make up 
the material world. Matter, per se, is, therefore, very 
far from being in the field of observation. The prop- 
erties and forces exhibited by the aggregation of the 
atoms is all we know of Matter. If, in harmony with 
all related facts, Mind has been distinctly identified as 
an individual — as distinctly as Matter, per se, or any 
kind of substance or being can be identified, nothing 
more should be expected or desired; and in all hu- 
mility we 'may challenge the Materialist to bring 
Matter, as a unit, as fully into the field of observation 
as we have brought Mind. Mind exists in self -con- 
sciousness in a way such that we know it as the indi- 
vidual self, as certainly as we know any thing. Mat- 
ter, per se, is known only as the invisible and intan- 
gible antithetic cause of phenomena — its essence is 
as unknown and as inscrutable as the essence of Life 
or Jjktind. 

It is not denied by any that mental and physical 

* "Fragments of Science," p. 497. 



Conclusion. 451 

phenomena are often associated together in the same 
act. In all such cases the question, which is the 
cause and which the effect % is of prime importance — 
in fact, it lies at the base of this philosophy. If 
Matter is the cause of mental phenomena, then Mind 
is nothing, per se — it is a transient resultant. But 
we have found it easy to produce a multitude of facts 
to prove that Mind acts upon body, as any one sub- 
stance acts upon another substance. The simultane- 
ous and diverse actions of Mind and body cannot be 
explained, or even conceived, on the hypothesis that 
they constitute a unit of substance. The clearness of 
this class of facts makes very conspicuous the distor- 
tions and insufficiency of Materialism. 

The New Philosophy does not recognize in man 
even the phenomena of the spiritual and immortal 
elements of his nature. One sole exception may be 
made in favor of Mr. Tyndall. He says : " Keligious 
feeling is as much an element of the human soul as 
any other, against which the waves of science on the 
subjective side beat in vain." If, then, we may in- 
quire, you must leave the ' religious element in man 
intact why assail its objective? This part of our 
being is like a vine which, if it cannot fasten its ten- 
drils upon some branch that will lift it up in the sun- 
light, must lie prone on the ground. The history of 
our race, even the remotest remains of antiquity, as 
clearly indicate that man was made to be a worshiper 
as that he was made to think or to breathe. Idolatry 



452 Matter, Life, and Mind. 

is a plea in his behalf for guidance and help. Why 
should any man desire that "the waves of science" 
should beat successfully against religion on the " ob- 
jective side ? " If the worshiping element is inerad- 
icably implanted in man's nature, the fact implies an 
objective correlative. The seeing organ implies the 
objective correlative light, and the sense of taste 
would be a superfluity — a monstrosity — if there were 
no flavors. Is it with Mr. Tyndall a hope or a fear 
that the " waves of science " will so " beat " upon the 
objective " side " of religion as to banish the idea of 
a personal God and all conceptions of intelligence 
and design in the universe from the Mind? What- 
ever may be his aim and object, such is the tendency 
of his philosophy. 

If we have identified the Mind as an individual 
spirit-substance, we have also demonstrated, not only 
the possibility, but the clear probability, of its im- 
mortality. When there exists a conviction of the 
existence of Mind as an essence — as a Real — the idea 
of its destruction or annihilation cannot take on the 
form of clear thinking. 'How nothing can become 
something, or something nothing, transcends the 
power of thought. If it were certain that such facts 
ever occurred they would be classed among the pro- 
foundest mysteries of nature. 

The fact cannot be denied that the religious ele- 
ment in man's nature may become so quickened and 
developed as to adjust his character and conduct to 



Conclusion. 453 

its correlate object of worship and to its eternity. 
The law of faith, in its proper sphere and relations, 
is a part of nature ; as much so as reason or gravi- 
tation. Between man and the objective world Faith 
is an ever-present necessity in the daily affairs of 
life; in its highest application it bridges the gulf 
between him and the Infinite and Eternal. 

A class of scientists, such as Maudsley, Bain, and 
Lewes, have vainly attempted to force upon the 
world the acceptance of the problems under discus- 
sion as established science. Having exhausted the 
argument on their side they think the discussion 
should close. Tyndall and Virchow, as we have 
seen, are not of this opinion. As the theory of Evo- 
lution is still in the hypothetical stage, Tyndall says, 
the " ban of exclusion should fall upon it." All the 
attempts made to pass from the physics of the brain 
to mental action have confessedly resulted in absolute 
failure. Sift the New Philosophy, separating hypoth- 
esis from fact, and the residue would not, as science, 
be worth staying for, or carrying away. On the start 
Materialists made the fatal mistake of supposing that 
Matter and its reaction as thought was the sum total 
of the universe. In the first place the discordant 
elements of this proposition could not be worked, and 
the further they were forced, the more palpable, and 
aggravating their incongruities became. 



INDEX 



Abstraction, Mind endowed with the power of, page 113. 

Affections, the base of human sympathy, 191. 

Aluminum, its nature and uses, 39. 

Arguments, fictitious, 140, 157, 361. 

Aristotle, his supreme study, 232. 

Arsenic, its nature and uses, 40. 

Atomic Theory, accepted as true, 26 ; reasons for, 52 ; explains the con- 
stitution of Matter, 27 ; its adoption in some form a necessity, 27. 

Atoms, defined, 27; size of, 28; not mathematical points, 28; un- 
discernible, 29; mechanics of, 53; their fixity, 438. 

Bain, Prof. Alexander, on Mind and Body, 255 ; ignores Mind, per se, 
257 ; nervous sensations substituted for, 257 ; issue joined with, 
260; his argument, 260-264; argument illustrated, 264; answered, 
267; on Materialistic Philosophy, 280; basis of argument, 281; 
consciousness ignored, 257 ; on the Will, 287 ; argument answered, 
288 ; misrepresents vitalist, 291 ; on a mindless body, 293 ; on 
Memory, on brain contents, 302 ; confesses failure, 305 ; how Mind 
is disposed of, 307. 

Beale, Dr. Lionel, on Vital Growths, 358; on Protoplasm, 315. 

Berkeley, Bishop, on Idealism, 232. 

Bichart, his definition of Life, 239. 

Body, composed of common dust, 54, 136; how affected by the Mind, 
274; influence on Mind, 205; objective to Mind, 144, 155; instru- 
ment of the Mind, 196 ; acts upon Mind, 201 ; illustrations, 201. 

Bowne, Prof. B. P., his theory of Metaphysics, 17 ; things limited 
by knowledge, 15; his Idealism, 18. 

Brain, softening of, 137. 

Byron, Lord, on Conscience, 408. 

Calcium, its nature and uses, 40. 
Carbon, its properties, 37. 

Carpenter, Dr. W. B., on unconscious Mental Action, 181, 185; on 
Flavors, 418: on the Sensoriurn, 421. 



4f.6 Matter, Life, and Mind. — Index. 

Chlorine, its nature ond uses, page 38. 

Conception, a help to Reason, 173; an aid to Imagination, 1*73. 

Conscience, an emotion, 390 ; not to be confounded with Judgment, 
393 ; closely associated with Intellect, 394 ; an oracle, 395 ; illus- 
trations of the working of, 396; its laws, 409; Conscience, the 
educator of the Intellect in morals, 394; its existence acknowl- 
edged, 390. 

Consciousness, its validity, 143, 144, 146, 147; of self is to know self 
to an absolute certainty, 168; its authority, 135, 285, 380. 

Cook, Joseph, on Conscience, 392 ; on Life, 247. 

Cosmology, the part taken by oxygen in, 42. 

Darwin, his theory of Natural Selection disturbed by facts he over- 
looks, 81, 82; his theism, 84, 85. 
De Blainville, his definition of Life, 237. 
Descartes on Consciousness of Self, 7 ; on Automatic Animals, 165. 

Earth, a non- vital, a conception of, 112.- 

Edwards, his theory of the Will, 188. 

Elements, atomic, kinds used in the structure of organic bodies, 34. 

Emotion, a department of the Mind, 191; influence over Life, 192; 
sure as an oracle of the Mind, 192; the educator of the Intel- 
lect, 193. 

External world, how perceived, 380, 382. 

Faith, defined, 431; its relation to reason, 422; base of spiritual- 
ity, 433. 
Faraday, on Atoms, 78. 

Ferrier, Prof., his misconception of Matter, 222. 
Forces, vital and material contrasted, 108. 
Foster, Bishop, denies a vegetable and animal Life-principle, 165. 

Generalization, 174. 
Generation, spontaneous, 440; 
God, expressions of his will, 16. 

Haeokel, Ernst, on Protoplasm, 315. 

Hamilton, Sir William, on the Subjective and Objective, 341. 

Hearing, sense of, 418. 

Huxley, Prof. T. J., on Protoplasm, 308; on physical basis of Life, 310, 

315, 330, 344; his false terminology, 351; on Darwinism, 85; on 

Bathybius, 315. 
Hydrogen, its nature and use, 35. 



Matter, Life, and Mind. — Index. 457 

Idealism, the mischief it has wrought, p. 232 ; a form of Monism, 364 ; 
different schools of, 365; atheistic, 366; objective, 367; as. repre- 
sented by its advocates, 368 ; actualized, 3.7 1 ; as related to the 
soul, 372 ; its basis, 373 ; dispenses with Life, 375 ; its assumptions, 
378; dependent upon realism, 379; disproved, 382. 

Ideas, Locke on, 12. 

Imagination, function of, 173. 

Individual, what constitutes an, 75; Spencer on, 75. 

Infinite, on the borders of the, 103. 

Intellect, its processes of reasoning, 172; its vast power, 175; its tri- 
umphs, 178; compared to Sense, 176; decides upon the facts of 
right and wrong, 392. 

Intellectual discernments legitimate exercises of the Mind, 167. 

Intuition, discovers first truths, 172. 

Iodine, its nature and uses, 41. 

Judgment, 382. 

Kant, his obscurities, 12. 

Lewes, George H., on Matter, organic and inorganic, being the same, 
96; on Vital Growths, 121; on Conscience, 391 ; on the physical 
basis of Mind, 312; attempts to define Life, 238; use of the word 
conditions, 324; on the unity of Body and Mind, 332; how he 
eliminates Intellect, 233; his great discovery, 335; process of elim- 
inating Mind from Body, 257. 

Life, not the outcome of Matter, 21 ; definition of, 63, 249; its differ- 
entiating power, 164 ; precedes structure, 250; different grades of, 
73; initiates the organism, 100; correlated to the forces of Matter, 
105, 107 ; the base of organic bodies, 111 ; its conservative power, 
119, 137; the center of activity in organisms, 120; attempts of 
Materialists to define, 238 ; Schelling's definition, 235 ; Richerand's 
attempt, 236 ; De Blainville's attempt, 237 ; Prof. Owen's defini- 
tion of, 238 ; Bichart's attempt to define, 239 ; Herbert Spencer's 
effort, 241 ; failure of Vitalists to define, 245 ; Dr. Beale and Dr. 
McCosh, 245 ; Bishop R. S. Foster, Prof. Guyot, Dr. T. L. Brunton, 
246; Joseph Cook, 247; Dr. L. P. Hickok, Dr. J. H. Seelye, 248; 
as is the Life, so is the structure, 252. 

Locke, on Ideas, 12. 

Magnesium, its nature and uses, 39. 

Man, a Mind substance, 126, 150; a trinity of existences, 162; not 
an animal, 136. 163; considered as a material organism, 255; with 



458 Matter,. Life, and Mind. — Index. 

Mind eliminated from the Body, 257 ; the process of the elimina- 
tion. 260; his place in creation, 126; his exalted titles, 126; Mind 
fully in the field of observation, 128; recognized by all nations and 
tribes of men, 127 ; does not admit of concealment, 128 ; more fully 
revealed than the entity of Matter, 129; invisible, because the 
senses are not correlated to spirit, 132; not the body, neither the 
Life of the body, 136, 137; conscious of existence, 144; studies 
the body as other substances external to itself, 144; no objec- 
tion that it is known only in the body, 147 ; known only in 
the study of Mind, 154; as he is has no place in Materialism, 
page 154. 

Mansel, on Conscience, 391. 

Materialism recognizes only Matter as substance, 58 ; deals only with 
the mechanism of atoms, 53; its narrow basis, 362; its insuffi- 
ciency, 103; its impracticability, 157; false assumptions of, 227; 
its greatest difficulty, 229; an ancient school in science, 224; its 
stronghold, 226; its narrowness, 429; a transient result, 436. 

Materialists uncertain of their data, 60; Matter intoxicated, 233; can- 
not meet just demands, 447. 

Matter, its endowments, in itself perfect, 26, 99, 123, 435 ; Life and 
Mind not among them, 21; not passive, 99; relative proportions 
of in the globe, 26; unchangeable, 31 ; kinds used in the structure 
of organic bodies, 33; its achievements, 48; its forces limited, 52; 
its vitality, if true, a question of demonstrable fact, not argument, 
53 ; yields no sign of vitality, 59 ; experiments with, 224 ; as an 
entity unknown, 227 ; contrasted with Life, 329; organic and inor- 
ganic the same, 95 ; organic and inorganic contrasted, 96 ; non- 
vital, 98 ; an exact knowledge of essential ; 99 ; object of its ex- 
istence, 111; correlated to Life, 441. 

Memory, when retentive, 173. 

Mind, more than a Life, 63; its correlate, 162, 168, 174; of unknown 
essence, 165; its greatness, 174; conceptions of, 167; acts uncon- 
sciously, 181; not a unit with body, 201; its influence as related 
to Matter, 376 ; direct knowledge of, 381 ; identified in the body, 
449; influence over the body, 198-205, 273; neither for existence 
dependent upon the other, 137; not the Life of the body, 114; in- 
destructible, 115; because a unit of substance, 115; a supreme 
regulating agent, 267; perse, must be studied to be known, 132, 
140, 142, 143; identified in the organism, 167; the use it makes 
of the sense-organs, 170, 176; its endowments, 172; its relation 
to body, 255. 



Matter, Life, and Mind. — Index. 459 

Necessary truth, the basis of all reasoning, pages 7, 168, 111. 

New Philosophy, weak points in, 444; does not recognize man's 

highest nature, 451. 
Nitrogen, its nature and uses, 36. 

Object, its relation to subject, 337. 

Obligation, indicated by conscience, 191; also by judgment, 393. 
Organism, vital structures, 47, 63, 75. 
Owen, Prof., his definition of Life, 238. 

Oxygen, its nature and uses, 34 ; its sway over kinds of Matter, 
42, 117. 

Pantheism, 377, 385. 

Passions, 191. 

Perception, an act of the Mind, 169, 172. 

Personal identity, easily demonstrated, 122, 169 ; explained, 314. 

Personality, its relation to "Will, 190. 

Phenomena, distinct from substance, 12. 

Phosphorus, its nature and uses, 41. 

Pleasure and Pain, Bain on, 290. 

Potassium, its nature and uses, 39. 

Psychology, an outline of, 167 

Real, the, a matter of consciousness, 381. 
Reality, more than an appearance, 372. 

Reason, its sphere of action, 424 ; its relation to Sensation, 424 ; can- 
not find God, 425. , 

Reasoning, its processes, 170. 

Resistance, proof of reality, 384. 

Right and wrong, a matter of judgment, 392. 

Schelling, his definition of Life, 235. 
Self, consciousness of, 168. 

Sensation, defined, 421 ; its relation to Intellect, 170, 176. 
Senses, the five, nature and functions of, 415,416; relation to Intel- 
lect, 421; office of, 414. 
Shakespeare, on Conscience, 403 ; spirit of his dramas, 156. 
Sight, not perception, 419. 
Silicon, its nature and uses, 38. 
Smell, the sense of, 133, 416, 417. 
Sodium, its nature and uses, 40. 



460 Mattek, Life, and Mind. — Index. 

Spencer, Herbert, his definition of Life, page 342 ; on Vital Functions, 
250; on Vital Growth, 357; his terminology, 355; on individual- 
ity, 75. 

Spiritual vision, its possibility, 132. 

Subjective and objective, their relation to each other, 337. 

Substance, the base and cause of phenomena, 12, 19; of unknown es- 
sence, 13, 28; its mystery does not discredit its existence, 13; 
unchangeable, 20; variety of, 62; defined, 386; Mind a, 339; the 
same not common to Mind and Body, 340; its reality, 131 ; limited 
conceptions of, 62; varieties of, 441 ; idea of, 386. 

Sulphur, described, 38. 

Taste, office of, 133, 416. 

Touch, functions of, 133, 420. 

Truths, necessary, 170. 

Tyndall, Prof. John, doubts his philosophical foothold, 56, 58 ; his 
trouble with organic Life, 70; service to Vitalism, 230; on the la- 
tent powers of Matter, 335; as a philanthropic philosopher, 152; 
would change our notions ol Matter, 229. 

Unity and harmony, 199. 

Vitalists, their concessions to Materialism, 245-247, 437. 

Vitality, the mark of distinction between organic and inorganic 
bodies, 96; subordinates the forces of Matter, 97; forces wholly un- 
like the forces of Matter, 98; defined, 63; essence unknown, 63 ; 
a kingdom by itself, 64 ; embraces all kinds of Life, 64 ; cannot 
have an independent existence, 65 ; vital substances of limitless va- 
riety, 66 ; vital force illustrated, 67 ; the cause of organisms, 68 ; 
its power over physical forces, 69; gives character to organisms, 
69, 86; their stability, 77, 81, 83; its organisms may degenerate, 
79; examples, 81, 88 ; its secrets, 87; known only in its phenom- 
ena, 88; a world of, 89,90; origin, 104; its elements endlessly re- 
productive, 116; resists the forces of Matter, 117; Vital Growths, 
121; vital substances do not change, 122 ; its use, 135. 

"Will, a department of the Mind, 1 88 ; Edwards, misconceptions of, 
188; signifies, to purpose, to resolve, 190; choice, as intellectual 
preference, not an act of the Will, 189; has a basis of its own, 
189; lies at the basis of responsibility, 190; defined, 190; place 
of Will in character, 190; distinguished from the emotional and 
intellectual departments of the Mind, 189. 



